In the Bag: Paul Casey

Englishman rises from ashes to claim first victory in more than two years at Irish Open

Andy Roberts's picture
Mon, 1 Jul 2013
In the Bag: Paul Casey

NIKE staffer Paul Casey bounced back to winning ways with his first victory in more than two years at the Irish Open yesterday.

The 35-year-old Englishman, who fell all the way from World No.3 to a lowly 169th in the world ahead of the Carton House event following a string of injuries and personal problems, sealed his 12th European Tour title by holing a monster 50-foot eagle putt at the 72nd hole for a three-shot triumph.

"It’s incredibly sweet," said Casey, who finished second the last time the event was staged at Carton House in 2006.

"It’s been a while and when that putt went in half of it was relief and half of it was satisfaction."

According to Casey, the win came as a result of his putting, coupled with his ball striking.

“The key has been the putting,” said Casey. “When I make putts I am going to shoot good rounds because the ball striking is there."

Casey arrived at the Carton House with a new Nike Method 006 prototype putter in his bag. He switched to the new Nike prototype putter because he liked the shape of it, which is very similar to the Method 006, but with softer and more rounded edges.

The Englishman ranked second in putts per greens in regulation on 1.673, 15th in driving distance with an average of 286 yards and tenth in greens in regulation on 74%.

A head-to-toe Nike athlete, Casey uses a full bag of Nike clubs including the new VR_S Covert 3-wood and 20XI ball featuring RZN technology. On the body, he wore Nike apparel from its Tour Performance Collection and Nike Lunar Control footwear.

Irish Open Final Leaderboard

-14 P Casey (Eng)
-11 R Rock (Eng), J Luiten (Hol)

What's in Casey's bag

Driver: Nike VR Pro Limited Edition (10.5-degree; Diamana White Board 73X)
Fairway Wood: Nike VR_S Covert 3-wood (15-degree)
Irons: Nike VR_S Forged (3), Nike VR Pro Combo (4-PW)
Wedges: Nike VR Pro (52-, 56- and 60-degree)
Putter: Nike Method 006 Prototype
Ball: Nike 20XI
Apparel: Nike Tour Performance Collection and the new Nike Hyperadapt Storm-FIT jacket
Footwear: Nike Lunar Control