Briton Casey wins first PGA Tour title in Houston
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Britain's Paul Casey gave himself the perfect warm-up for next week's U.S. Masters by winning his first PGA Tour title in a playoff at the weather-delayed Houston Open on Sunday.
Casey sealed victory with a bogey five at the first extra hole where big-hitting American JB Holmes drove into the water and finished with a double-bogey.
The pair had finished the 72 regulation holes on 11-under-par 277, Casey bogeying the last for a 72 and Holmes closing with a six-birdie 69 at Redstone Golf Club.
"It feels great," Casey, a nine-times European Tour winner, told reporters after making his breakthrough on the U.S. circuit.
"It feels a little bit like my first win felt in Europe, which I can remember very vividly. First win in Europe, first Ryder Cup experience and now a first PGA Tour win. Three fairly major events in my life, in my golfing life."
Tour veteran Fred Couples, bidding for his first victory on the U.S. circuit since the 2003 Houston Open, was a further two strokes behind in a tie for third.
Couples slipped out of the lead on the back nine and bogeyed the last three holes to finish level with Swede Henrik Stenson (70) and Australian Nick O'Hern (70).
One of six players tied for the lead when the third round was finally completed earlier in the day, Casey birdied the 12th and 13th to edge one ahead.
A stroke in front playing the last, he bogeyed the hole after hitting his approach into a greenside bunker.
"I kept my head down and didn't pay too much attention to what was going on," Casey said. "I just thought it was incredibly difficult out there so why burden myself with knowing too much. Just get on with it.
"It's an incredibly difficult golf course with very difficult conditions but they set it up brilliantly.
"It wasn't until the last green that I looked up when I was in the bunker and knew I had to get up and down to beat J.B. Otherwise a playoff."
(Writing by Mark Lamport-Stokes in Rancho Mirage, California; Editing by Peter Rutherford. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
