Casey has burning ambition
PAUL CASEY always liked Augusta National but absence has made his heart grow fonder over the past three years.
Arizona- based Englishman Casey has made a special effort to take time out to smell the azaleas on his return to golfi ng Disneyland.
“It’s great to be back here. You embrace the week a lot more when you’ve been away,” said Casey.
“I’m very focused this week and believe I can play well, but I’m enjoying every day that I’m here. As you turn in here you can’t turn right straight into the car park, you’re made to drive down Magnolia Lane – what a chore!
“There would have been years in the past where I would have just wanted to go straight there to get the work done. If I could have avoided Magnolia to save two minutes, I would have. Not now, it’s great.”
Casey, who has fi nished in the top 20 four times in eight starts, will tee off again at the Masters after a three- year absence having broken back into the world’s top 50, but he has bigger plans.
“There’s a massive fi re burning in me to be part of the Ryder Cup team again. I’ve communicated that with Darren Clarke,” said the 37- year- old, who last featured for Europe in 2008. “The three I played in were wonderful. I wasn’t going to make the past two with the golf I was playing, but it was brilliant to watch .
“I desperately want to be part of that again and think I can play a major role .” Casey cannot play for Europe as things stand, having resigned his membership of the European Tour to concentrate on the PGA Tour, but he plans to rejoin it .
“I’m looking to get myself back in the top 10 in the world by the end of the year, then it will be easy to play both Tours next season, have a cracking season, make the team by August and make Darren’s job very easy,” he said.