CASEY EYES RETURN AND RYDER CUP SPOT
FOR three days there wasn’t a lot to shout about concerning British golfers at the US PGA Championship, but Jordan Smith and Paul Casey brought reason to cheer at Quail Hollow yesterday. Smith was playing in his first major and only got into this event two weeks ago following his breakthrough victory in the European Open in Germany. The 24-year-old revelled in the experience all week and finished with a final round 68. ‘The whole week has been of the “pinch me” variety and that certainly continued today,’ said Smith. As for Casey, who shot 71 to finish level par, he has indicated he is ready to end his three-year exile to rejoin the European Tour. The Arizona-based Englishman was badly missed at last year’s Ryder Cup at Hazeltine and would be an asset in Paris next year on present form. Casey gets on well with captain Thomas Bjorn and says the pair have been ‘in constant dialogue’. It doesn’t require a code-breaker to surmise what those conversations have been about. The 40-year-old has also been impressed with the changes made by European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley and recognised he has a big decision to make at the end of the year. ‘The change to four events from five to become a European Tour member is a big one for me,’ admitted Casey. He has not played in a home Ryder Cup since he was one of the stars in 2006 at the K Club. He was ranked seventh in the world when overlooked by Colin Montgomerie in 2010 and was badly hurt by it. Since then he has rebuilt his career successfully in America following a slump, and firmly established himself as one of the top-20 players in the world. His reasons for not rejoining the European Tour before now were that he has a young family and wanted to cut down on the travel, and also pointed to the alarming slide down the rankings of players of similar age who tried to play both tours. Now, he is seriously tempted to have a change of heart, which would make him eligible for the Ryder Cup, and Bjorn is hopeful. ‘I don’t want to say too much but Paul is in a very good place with his golf,’ the big Dane told
Sportsmail. ‘Of course I’d like him to be available.’