Casey relishes chance to play with Woods

2008-03-19

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By Andrew BothPA SportsTicker Golf Writer

MIAMI (Ticker) - It speaks volumes of Tiger Woods'' status thathis fellow competitors are thrilled simply to play in the samegroup as him.

Excitement was how you would describe the reaction of Paul Caseyafter seeing the draw for the first two rounds of the CAChampionship, which starts in Miami on Thursday.

"I enjoy playing with him," said Casey, who got to "enjoy" 54holes with the world number one at last year''s Masters.

"I think it raises my game a little. You can feed off his focusand energy, especially right now, the roll he''s on," Casey said."He''s setting the pace, so why not be right next to him on thecourse and see how you go? He''s great to play with because hecompliments you if you hit a good shot. I stay in my own littlebubble but there have been occasions when you witness thingsthat are a little different."

The most amazing Woods feat Casey has seen came at Augusta lastyear, and it was not even the execution of a shot. Rather, itwas the way Woods stopped his swing a millisecond before impactwhen a bird flew overheard, casting a shadow over the ball onthe 13th tee during the second round.

"He''s hit a lot of unbelievable shots and you think maybethere''s a way I could hit that if you gave me enough balls but Idon''t think I could have checked the swing like that," Caseysaid. "The shadow went through and there was a split secondthere where he thought, ''Maybe I don''t want to hit the ball, I''mgoing to stop''. To have the awareness to be able to think ofstopping and then stop, I''ve never seen anything like that."

Casey arrives at this $8 million World Golf Championships eventoff a missed cut last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational,where he admits his swing was out of sync.

"I got battered by the winds in Tampa (the previous week)," hesaid. "I played some very good golf for a couple of days and asthe wind came in, I then struggled a bit.

"That carried over to last week. I finally figured it out byFriday, but by then it was too late. I wasn''t able to make therecovery putts either. It was disappointing but that''s the wayFlorida is, windy and tough, great golf courses."

Casey is part of a large British contingent this week at atournament that has not been won by a European in its eight-yearhistory.

Although with Woods winning six times, it doesn''t leave muchroom for anyone else, with South African Ernie Els and CanadianMike Weir the only other champions.

Casey acknowledges the demands of Doral''s Blue Monster courseare considerably different to Augusta National''s. Nonetheless,he considers the CA Championship an important part of hisMasters preparation, especially as it will be his finalcompetitive round before he has a two weeks off heading toGeorgia.

"This is a great sharpening exercise for Augusta, but it will bedifferent," he said. "This week it''s all about trajectorycontrol, consistency of strike, patience. At Augusta, it''s goingto be maneuvering the ball, high ball flight, hitting offcamber lies with the ball above your feet, hitting chip shotswith the grain into you. That''s what I''ll be working on the nexttwo weeks.

"There are many ways of playing shots around the greens atAugusta. You need more imagination and you need to be utterlyprecise."