Surrey’s Paul Casey is looking to go back to back at the WGC World Matchplay in Austin, after defending his Valspar trophy at Copperhead, last week. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

PAUL Casey arrives at this week’s WGC-Dell Technologies World Match Play in buoyant mood after the Englishman defended a title for the first time in his professional career last week at the Valspar Championship on the US PGA Tour.

The 41-year-old is the most recent of three Europeans to have won in consecutive weeks on the other side of the Atlantic – alongside Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari.

And all three are present at Austin Country Club in a field which features 48 of the world’s top 50. Casey, who was raised in Surrey, has a strong record in knockout formats, having won the Volvo World Match Play at Wentworth Club back in 2006.

His Ryder Cup record of four wins and five ties out of 12 matches – having played in 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2018 having fallen out over the qualification process after missing out at Celtic Manor in 2010 – is one not to be sniffed at.

Add to that two runner-up finishes and four further top 10 in this event, and Casey is a force to be reckoned with in Texas this week.

The former Burhill junior who won back to back English Amateur Championships in 1999 and 2000 before turning pro at the end of that year said: “It feels great to be here after winning, really good.

“It’s obviously been a short week. I’m a little bit tired. I’d like to have a day off to recover, but it’s probably a good thing just to crack on.

“Last week was brilliant, so enjoyable, and what a tough golf course that is. But last year was like this huge kind of relief and quite emotional.

“Sunday was just exciting and felt great and kind of felt like the sort of golf – I certainly made mistakes, everybody did – but felt like golf I was playing 10 years ago, when I was in my 30s rather than my 40s.

So it felt very good.

“My matchplay record is fairly strong. Maybe not a huge amount of success in this particular event, or at Austin Country Club.

“But I played well finishing off the Ryder Cup last year in Paris. That was a great match against Brooks.

“I know how to play it. I’ve got massive respect for my group, but I don’t really have a group of death.”

The 13-time European Tour winner is one of 10 Englishmen in the field this week, a tournament record, and three of those are making their debut this week – Oxfordshire’s Eddie Pepperell and Herfordshire pair Tom Lewis and Matt Wallace.

Francesco Molinari does not have a standout record in the event, which has been won by Major winners in 12 of the last 16 outings.

The last outsider to produce a shock was Kevin Sutherland who won in 2002 when the WGC Matchplay was played at La Costa Resort in California’s Carlsbad, the home to two of the world’s biggest club manufacturers in TaylorMade and Calloway.

Molinari, who won his first Major by claiming the Claret Jug at The Open at Carnoustie, in July, said: “It’s always a tough event, not one where I’ve done particularly well in the past – so hopefully I’ll manage to change that trend this year.

“Clearly these guys are the best players in the world and it’s really exciting for people watching at home because anyone can beat anyone over 18 holes.

“I think the format is good, even if you win the first game you have to be on your toes and play well for the rest of the group stage and it can be a challenge for everyone for sure.

“You need a certain dose of good luck in match play but mostly you need to play good golf for a long time because it’s a lot of golf.

“In golf the margins are so small that really anything can happen, but you come into the week hoping to do well and hoping to play some good golf and that’s all you’ve got to do.

“So my focus will be on trying to control my game and my emotions and play some good golf and if you get the right breaks, you can go all the way.

“Since the event has come to Austin there has been a great atmosphere and the course is very good for match play, so many risk and reward holes so it should be a fun week for everyone.”   

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Frilford Heath’s Eddie Pepperell, who has soared up the world ranking rankings from outside the top 500 to No. 36 in less than two years , makes his WGC World Matchplay Champinship debut at Austin Country Club today.

OXFORDSHIRE’S Eddie Pepperell will take his mindset back to his amateur days when he makes his debut in the WGC Matchplay Championship at Austin Country Club, in Texas, this week.

The Abingdon ace, who takes on big hitting American Gary Woodlands, at 5pm GMT, on Wednesday, will be full of confidence after a top five at The Players Championship two weeks ago.

Pepperell will then face Hampshire’s Justin Rose – his playing partner in the final round of the recent Players championship where he finished tied for third – 24 hours later.

His final group stage opponent will be Argentinian Emiliano Grillo, on Friday, for a place in the last 16 where the group winner could face defending champion Bubba Watson, or former Masters Champion Jordan Spieth, on Saturday.

The 28-year-old, who will make his Masters debut at Augusta in two weeks, said: “Matchplay is very different. I’ve haven’t played matchplay for a decade or so – since I was an amateur. Although Matt and I played in the GolfSixes last year.

“I had a good matchplay record as a kid. I love playing the man, as opposed to the course.

“I’ve not got any expectations or pressure on this event. I mean out here, all these guys are very good golfers, so I think you’re taking it all with a pinch of salt.

“Anything can happen on the day. You’ve just first of all got to make sure that you play well. But I’ve historically loved matchplay so it will be nice to – hopefully we can use some of those positive memories and get positive.

“I think that’s going to be the hardest thing for me this week,” added the former Great Britain and Ireland junior international, who has been resting since his exertions at Sawgrass.

“I don’t know how competitive I am. I think I’m competitive. But the position these guys are in, I don’t know. It can sometimes be hard to be positive because they’re golfing very lovely. But then again if you stand on the tee, there might be more positive juices flowing. It’s hard to say.

“I think I’m prepared for it. I don’t think too much about those things, so I like to just play golf and make sure I’m playing as good as I can.

“And the good thing is as I’m getting a bit older, it seems that the results are coming better, and better results are coming as I tend to reach the levels I want to reach, let’s say.

“So that’s nice. And the fact if it does is great, and if not, so be it.”

Certainly, Pepperell, who claimed his second European Tour victory at Walton Heath – claiming the Skysports British Masters, in October – is benefitting from growing confidence levels following his latest display in the States.

Eddie said: “It was a bizarre week at The Players, I didn’t feel like I played very good. I was ready to go home pretty early in the week.

“And then before you know it, I found a good run here and there on a Sunday.

“One of those weeks I wouldn’t be able to say I expected or saw it coming, because I really didn’t.

“It was a lot of fun, that’s for sure. Playing with Justin on Sunday was great.”

Pepperell produced a string of birdies on the back nine to leapfrog the leaders thanks to a 30-foot snaking putt on Sawgrass’ infamous par three island green at the 17^th, to become the clubhouse leader before Rory McIlory caught him.

Eddie added: “Obviously the 17^th was a pretty magical moment for me. And I had a lot of people at home saying how much they enjoyed it.”

ABOVE: Experienced caddy Mick Doran (left) compared Eddie Pepperell to a younger Lee Westwood in his prime after the Frilford Heath ace finsihed third at The Players two weeks ago

Pepperell has formed a very good partnership over the last year with veteran caddy Mick Doran (above), who has worked with Lee Westwood when they won 16 tournaments together, having also caddied for Italian Constantino Rocca in the play-off at the 1995 Open at St Andrews, and for Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Camillo Villegas.

Doran was very impressed by Pepperell’s Players Championship performance – especially as it was his first look at a very fiddly Sawgrass, which tests players’ patience and course management to the full.

Mick told Golf South: “Eddie has something which a lot of golfers don’t – and that is when he is in a position near the top of a leaderboard he goes one way… forward.”

And Eddie also displayed a lot of grit having played poorly in practice but somehow found a way of scoring around the Pete Dye design where even the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have seriously struggled before finding a way to win around Sawgrass, at Ponte Vedra Beach, the home of the PGA Tour.

Mick added “The Players was something I haven’t seen before where I can honestly say, in my eyes, Eddie was really struggling with his swing.

“I have been very fortunate to work with many great golfers and Westwood in his prime reminds me of Eddie. Both very humble guys with something in them where they have another gear. It’s been a week now from The Players and we finished third.

“To a lot of people that means nothing. But I promise you that week was very special as sometimes it’s about the bigger picture.”

It will be interesting to see how Eddie fares in his WGC debut – there will be more appearances for sure given his world ranking now which sees him in 36^th – the seventh highest ranked Englishman – behind Rose (2^nd), Paul Casey (11^th), Tommy Fleetwood (12^th), Ian Poulter (32^nd), Matt Wallace (35^th), with former B.B.&O. team-mate Tyrrell Hatton in 37^th place.

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