Casey is European king
PAUL CASEY won his first European Tour title in five years after coming out on top of a congested leaderboard at the Porsche European Open.
The 42-year-old Englishman was joined by Bernd Wiesberger and overnight leaders Robert MacIntyre and Bernd Ritthammer at 12 under par with three holes remaining during an enthralling finale at Green Eagle Golf Courses.
Casey’s experience came to the fore after a stunning birdie putt from 35 feet at the 16th proved to be the turning point as he carded a birdie-birdie-par finish to claim his 14th European Tour victory in Hamburg – his first since the KLM Open in 2014.
“I get emotional at every victory but this year has been so fantastic,” said Casey, who dedicated the trophy to former winner Gordon Brand jnr following his death at the age of 60 last month.
“This is an incredibly prestigious trophy that has a lot of history to it on the European Tour so I’m over the moon.” Casey is the third successive English player to win the event after Jordan Smith and Richard McEvoy.
Meanwhile, GB and Ireland captain Craig Watson said his side had been “outplayed” as the United States staged a fightback to retain the amateur Walker Cup at Royal Liverpool.
Trailing 7-5 overnight, the visitors won two and a half points from the morning foursomes before claiming eight of the 10 singles matches to secure a victory by 15.5 points to 10.5 points.
“The lads will probably learn a lot from this disappointment today,” said Watson. “I don’t think the conditions had anything to do with the fact that the Americans outplayed us.”