Golf China Open: The pre-tournament favourite Paul Casey, who all but ruled himself out of contention after two rounds, overturned a five-shot deficit to claim his fifth European Tour title in the China Open yesterday.
Casey birdied the first hole of a play-off with fellow Englishman Oliver Wilson to claim the €184,500 first prize at Shenzhen Golf Club.
The Ryder Cup star, who won a play-off to win the TCL Classic in China in March, set the clubhouse target on 13 under par after a superb closing 65, but thought his missed birdie putt on the 18th would prove costly.
That looked like being the case when Wilson birdied four holes in a row from the 12th to lead by one with just two holes to play.
But the 25-year-old from Mansfield bogeyed the 17th as he went for the birdie he thought he needed, and also failed to birdie the par-five 18th after running just through the green with his approach.
The players returned to the 18th for sudden death and Casey two-putted from 25ft for birdie after Wilson stumbled from one greenside bunker into another to card a bogey six.
"I'm very happy, I feel I've accomplished what I came here to do but it wasn't easy," said Casey, who felt his chance of victory was gone after trailing by eight shots at halfway.
"The game improved as the week went on and today was a really solid round of golf. I gave myself lots of chances but I was very fortunate to get that chance at the end to go into a play-off."
Casey was five shots behind overnight leader Ross Fisher but the world number 61 - the highest ranked player in the field - wiped out that deficit with four birdies in his first eight holes, and briefly led by two when he picked up further shots on the 11th and 12th.
Veteran Barry Lane was the first to catch him when he chipped in for birdie on the 14th, but when the 45-year-old duffed his chip on the 15th to double bogey, Wilson took over the challenge only to stumble over the closing stretch.
Lane birdied 17 and 18 to claim outright third place ahead of Fisher and Thailand's Chawalit Plaphol while Ireland's Peter Lawrie was sixth after a closing 69. Lawrie bagged a cheque for €38,750.
Casey's win will be major boost to his goal of finishing the year inside the world's top 50 to qualify for next year's major championships.
"I didn't know where I was in the rankings before this week but I'm sure I will be fully aware of where I am until the end of the year," added the 28-year-old, who will play in the Hong Kong Open and Australian Masters over the next fortnight. "I'm really looking forward to a fun 2006 season."
