Paul Casey

Paul Alexander Casey is a professional English golfer who competes mostly on the PGA European Tour; although he is also a member of the U.S. based PGA Tour. He was born on July 21, 1977 in Cheltenham, England.

For a time, Casey has stayed in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Rankings. During this time, he was also the highest ranked Englishman golfer. In January 2007 he reached a career high of 13th in the top 20 rankings.

On Saturday, September 23, 2006 in Ireland, Casey became the only player in the history of Ryder Cup to win a foursome match with a hole-in-one.

Casey was born in Cheltenham, but moved with his family to Weybridge, Surrey at the age of six. After attending Cleves School, Weybridge and then Hampton School, he studied A levels at Strode's College, Egham. He then took a golf scholarship at Arizona State University.

His amateur career was distinguished. In the U.S. he was the first man to win three consecutive Pac-10 Championships (1998, 1999 and 2000). In 2000 he broke the championship scoring record held by Tiger Woods (18 under par) with a 23 under par 265. Back on the other side of the Atlantic he won the English Amateur in 1999 and 2000. He was also a member of Great Britain and Ireland's winning 1999 Walker Cup team, where he was only the third player in seventy seven years to record four victories without a single defeat.

Casey joined the European Tour in May 2001 and recorded a second in his fifth event and a win in his eleventh, the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship, ending that season 22nd on the order of merit and collecting the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year award. After a disappointing second season he won the ANZ Championship and the Benson and Hedges International Open in 2003, and came sixth on the Order of Merit.

Casey didn't win any individual titles in 2004, but he was a member of the victorious European Ryder Cup team and also won the WGC-World Cup for England in partnership with Luke Donald. Another highlight of his year was a sixth place finish in his first Masters. He joined the PGA Tour shortly afterwards as a Special Temporary Member and his membership of the 2004 European Ryder Cup Team qualified him for membership of the U.S. based tour for the 2005 season. However he continues to play mainly in Europe, and was the leader of the European Tour Order of Merit in 2006, until Pádraig Harrington overtook him in the final event. He re-joined the PGA Tour in 2009.

Casey has featured in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings and was the highest ranked Englishman for a time. In January 2007 he reached a career high of #13 in the rankings.

In 2006, Casey won the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, beating Shaun Micheel 10 and 8 in a record victory for the final. Casey became the only player in Ryder Cup history to win a foursome match with a hole-in-one on Saturday, 23 September 2006, in Ireland.

Casey sparked controversy in November 2004, when in an interview for the Sunday Times newspaper he reportedly said, of the U.S. Ryder Cup team, "Oh, we properly hate them. We wanted to beat them as badly as possible". Several leading American golfers, including Fred Funk and Davis Love III, publicly dismissed the controversy surrounding Casey as tabloid mischief. Casey later apologised saying the remarks were taken out of context and using the word "hate" was an error. Casey has an American coach (Peter Kostis) and girlfriend and says he "has nothing against America".

Casey earned his first PGA Tour win on 5 April 2009 by defeating J. B. Holmes in a one-hole playoff at the Shell Houston Open. This win took him to #6 in the Official World Golf Rankings.

Casey won his milestone 10th event on the European Tour at the 2009 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey, where he won by one stroke over Wentworth resident and fellow Englishman Ross Fisher. This win vaulted Casey to a career high of 3rd in the Official World Golf Ranking. He had been ranked at #41 at the beginning of 2009. He is now ranked at #4 as per Official World Golf Ranking site. Casey suffered a rib injury at the 2009 Open Championship and this limited the amount of golf he could play in the second half of 2009.