A delighted Paul Casey was all smiles after his first round display at the Perth International as the former world no.3 continued to rediscover his form.
A superb round of 67 at Lake Karrinyup put the Englishman in a tie for fourth place, two behind leaders Michael Hendry and Alejandro Cañizares who are on seven under par.
Casey who was in the top ten in the world only 18 months ago, was involved in a snowboarding accident last winter which kept him out of the game. After a lot of rehabilitation Casey returned, but a lack of form saw him slide to 132nd.
There were signs that his game was on back on track last week when he finally collected ranking points for the first time since April with a third-place finish in Korea.
“I played wonderful golf today,” said Casey, who played some wonderful golf from tee to green today.
who was partnered with Steve Stricker, lost all three of his matches on the Friday and Saturday and only managed a half in the singles on the Sunday when he sportingly gave Francesco Molinari a 5 foot putt to allow Europe to win the Ryder Cup having already retained it after comebacks from Poulter, Rose, Westwood, Garcia and Kaymer.
