Paul Casey takes home The Irish Open title – Golf News
Paul Casey finally returned to his winning form as he fired a five-under par 67 in the final round of The Irish Open to claim an emphatic three-stroke victory over Robert Rock and the overnight leader Joost Luiten.
It had been more than two years since he tasted success on the European Tour, with his previous European Tour victory coming at the Volvo Golf Champions in January, 2011.
Entering the final round at the Carton House Golf Club, the Englishman was sharing the fourth spot on the leaderboard. Also, he was facing a four-stroke deficit against the pace set by Luiten at 13-under par score.
Meanwhile, when Luiten was unable to keep control over his game and faltered for a two-over par final-round score, Casey made a strong charge on the leaderboard by carding five birdies and an amazing eagle over the last 11 holes.
Starting on the front nine, he parred each of the first seven holes, before adding back-to-back birdies on the eighth and the ninth hole and reached the turn in two-under.
He then birdied three of the first four holes on the back nine, followed by two straight bogeys starting from the 15th hole.
However, the mistakes did not shatter his confidence, as the 35-year-old made a strong comeback with an eagle on the final hole to finish way ahead of his rivals.
“It’s incredibly sweet,” said Casey. “It’s been a while and when that putt went in half of it was relief and half of it was satisfaction. What a grandstand finish - winning an Irish open is an absolute dream.
“I was feeling wet when it rained. It was a shaky start, I didn’t hit the ball particularly close going out but when the putts did start to go in I got on a bit of a roll. I love playing in Ireland, I always have. The Irish Open
has great history – just looking at Seve’s name on the trophy,” he added.
Pablo Larrazábal, who started the day just two strokes behind Luiten, finished fourth on the leaderboard, courtesy of his poor performance for a three-over par score.
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