Paul Casey is a relieved man after becoming the 99th and final player to claim a spot in the season’s opening major, the US Masters, which tees off in Augusta next Thursday (April 9).
The 37-year-old from Surrey was at his home in Arizona when the matter was decided last Sunday, and admitted he went through all sorts of agonies as his Augusta fate swung back and forth. He got into the select field due to staying in the world’s top 50, but at one point, as events unfolded in Morocco and at the Texas Open, he was projected to fall to 54th.
“I was very relieved and now I am just so excited,” said Casey, who made the last of his eight Masters appearances in 2012. “On the outside looking in is hardly where you want to be for the season’s first major. I’ve missed the whole experience.”
Casey finished sixth on his Masters debut in 2004, and led after five holes of the final round in 2007. He then called a penalty shot on himself at the sixth hole, after his ball moved a fraction when he addressed it with his putter.
Casey said: “It would be nice to wind the clock back, wouldn’t it? It did affect me for a few holes and I fell away. But I’m going back a lot wiser and far better equipped if I got in contention again.”