LIV Golf rebel's comments will NOT sit well with DP World Tour and PGA Tour

"You can't just go pick up an easier event which we've been able to through the years," says former European Ryder Cup star.

Andy Roberts

24 Aug 2023

LIV Golf rebel's comments will NOT sit well with DP World Tour and PGA Tour

Former World No.3 Paul Casey believes it is tougher to gain confidence on the LIV Golf League because "you can't just go pick an easier event" like he could have done in the past on the DP World Tour or PGA Tour.

Casey, who decided to join the Saudi-bankrolled LIV Golf circuit last season, made his comments after carding a 1-under 71 in the first round of the St Andrews Bay Championship on the Asian Tour.

This week's International Series event is taking place on the Torrance Course at Fairmont St Andrews.

Former European Ryder Cup star Casey was quizzed by reporters in Scotland to reflect on his year thus far, to which he responded "I've had a kind of flat season".

Following a fourth-place finish in LIV Golf's season opener at Mayakoba in Mexico, Casey has struggled to build any form with his best result since being a T19 at Andalucia in Spain.

He also did not play in a major in 2023.

The lack of positive results on the LIV Golf League, according to the Englishman, have been due to injury but also not being able to build any confidence in "easier" tournaments like he has been able to do throughout his career on the PGA Tour and DP World Tour.

Casey said:

"I played well in Mayakoba [LIV Golf Mayakoba] at the beginning of the year. But I've just struggled and most of that has been injury related and I’ve been trying to get some momentum which has just been difficult. The goals for the rest of the year, are that I want win one [event] plain and simple. You don't have that many opportunities. It's 14 events and one of them is a team event, so you have got 13 opportunities. When you're playing against the same guys every week, if you get somebody like Cam Smith or Taylor Gooch, he's on a burner, you can't just go pick up an easier event which we've been able to through the years. My schedule was always, play the toughest for years, the majors and the world events. If you need little bit of a confidence booster you just throw something else, which you can’t do on LIV, so I just need to just find a way of just stepping it up."

With all due respect to the field at the St Andrews Bay Championship on the Asian Tour this week, Casey has certainly chosen an "easier event" with which to compete in given only a handful of LIV Golf players are in action this week.

Casey is one of the star names from LIV Golf competing in the latest International Series event, which also includes Sergio Garcia, Mito Pereira, Anirban Lahiri, Peter Uihlein, Harold Varner III and Order or Merit leader Andy Ogletree.

Six players share the lead after round one including Lahiri and Pereira.

Casey is five shots off the pace with 54 holes left to play at Fairmont St Andrews.

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