BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP: SOMETIMES YOU get invited to the party, but finish up sitting in the corner. Yesterday, as glorious sunshine kissed the West Course here for the final round of the BMW PGA Championship, Rory McIlroy set out in the quest for one of the real blue chip titles on tour, only to assume the role of spectator as playing partner Ross Fisher became the chief pursuer to 54-hole leader Paul Casey.
As it transpired, Fisher’s superb round – a 64, the best of the tournament – failed, almost literally, by a hair’s breadth when his eagle putt on the last refused to drop.
So Casey claimed the greatest win of a career that continues to go onwards and upwards. He is now a career-high third in the world rankings.
In cementing his third win of the season, to add this title to the Abu Dhabi championship on the European Tour in January and the Houston Open on the US Tour last month, Casey’s final-round 68 for 271, 17 under par, was enough to secure a one-stroke victory over Fisher.
Denmark’s Soren Kjeldsen was four shots adrift in third.
McIlroy, who birdied the closing two holes for a 71, finished alone in fifth. It was his best finish since his maiden tour title in Dubai in February and gave him his sixth top-five of the season. And, his bank balance improved by €190,800 for his troubles.
Afterwards, the northerner felt he had turned a corner in his season.
“This has put me back on track. I’m looking forward to the European Open (at The London Club) now. I feel as if I have the game to go and win there. This is hopefully a good building block for the rest of the season,” said the 20-year-old.
On this day, though, McIlroy was pushed into the shade by Fisher’s exhibition on the course he learnt how to play the game.
Unfortunately for Fisher, there was to be no fairytale finish on his home course. Casey, showing how he has evolved as a player, kept cool and calm as one roar after another from the match ahead reverberated back to him on the tree-lined course. Each time Fisher threw a birdie at him, the streetwise Casey answered in kind when it mattered.
It was an exhilarating final round. Casey had walked to the first tee with the upper hand. He carried a three-stroke lead over Kjeldsen. His advantage over McIlroy was four. And, over Fisher, he held a five-stroke lead.
Casey was to need every one of those shots.
Fisher played flawless golf, producing a round that featured four birdies on the outward journey (turning in 31 strokes), then four more birdies – on the 10th, 12th, 17th and 18th – coming back.
It could have been even better. On the 18th, he hit a three-wood approach from 254 yards that finished 20 feet from the pin. The eagle putt, however, failed to drop.
And that putt, which looked so good from the moment it left the putter face, gave the initiative back to Casey.
Almost simultaneously, Casey had birdied the 17th – two-putting from the front of the green – for the fifth birdie of his round. The Ryder Cup player had started with a blip at the first, and dropped another shot on the eighth which had enabled Fisher to draw level.
The nip and tuck nature of the run home, as a fascinating duel developed, allowed them to jump clear of Kjeldsen. By the time Casey walked to the 18th tee, with the roars up ahead again confirming Fisher’s stubborn resistance, he was tied for the lead.
Although the 538 yards par five played as the easiest hole statistically in the tournament, it had not been a friend to Casey. In fact, he’d only managed pars on each of the three previous days. This time, however, Casey found a way to conquer it.
In a greenside bunker in two, he splashed out to five feet and coolly slotted the left-to-right, downhill birdie putt that gave him the €750,000 top prize. That also moved him to the top of the Race to Dubai order of merit.
Of the winning putt, Casey conceded: “It was not an easy putt, but any putt to win is something I would like to have. There are great names on this trophy and it feels great. A lot of people have put in a lot of work, but I have to thank Peter Kostis, my coach in the States. He’s more than a coach, he’s a great friend, and we set some lofty goals at the start of the year.”
Graeme McDowell – who’d required treatment on his leg before and after the round – finished with a 69 for 283, five under, which left him in tied-13th. It constituted his best finish in the championship.
“I battled through Thursday and Friday and it was great to make the cut on the number. And this is the best golf I played this year. Probably this week and Augusta, and as far as tee to green golf goes, I hit it really good.”
If he can manage his injury, a second-degree tear to his anterior muscle in his right leg, then McDowell believes it won’t be an issue. Still, he has decided not to play in the pro-am at the European Open.
