Casey scents victory at Wentworth

May 23 2009 By John Whitbread

PAUL Casey takes a three shot lead into the final round of the BMW PGA at Wentworth knowing victory will put him on top of the European Order of Merit.

It will also take the Weybridge ace to a personal best-ever third in the World Rankings, behind Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

The last Briton to reach that lofty status was Colin Montgomerie in 2002.

In addition he would join an illustrious quartet of nick faldo, Seve ballesteros, Ian Woosnam, and montgomerie in winning both the PGA and World Match Play titles over the famous West Course.

But, despite carding a bogey-free third round 67 that took him to 13 under par, Casey might have been even further clear of the chasing pack had he not three-putted the par five 17th and 18th holes.

"Yeah that felt like a couple of bogeys instead of pars out there," he admitted. " But let's focus on the good. That was good solid round of golf and I extended my lead a little and it was a lot of fun.

"I have got to expect one  of the guys behind to shoot a low last round and I have to be ready to face the challenge.

"This golf tournament is just starting to get interesting. I know I would love to win it. This is the one I watched as a kid on the Foxhills Foundation, just down the road at Ottershaw.

"I remember my heroes Seve and Langer and Faldo and the wonderful shots they hit. It was the dream that sparked my love of golf. So to get my name on that roll of honour would be the biggest thing."

Ascot-based Dane Soren Kjeldsen leads the chasing pack on 10 under, while world  golf's brightest new kid on the block Rory McIlroy raced up the leaderboard  with a superb seven under par 65 to be four short of the lead on -9. 

Just one shot further back is Wentworth's own fast rising star Ross Fisher, who, for the second day running, recovered from a bad start, when he bogeyed two of the first three holes, to collect six birdies and finish with a sparkling 67.

"Paul (Casey) is going to be very hard to beat," said Fisher. "But there's definitely a 64 or 65 out there for someone. I am not sure if it will be me, but I will certainly be giving it my best shot.

"Most of all I just want a good finish on my home course," added Fisher, whose best effort was 39th in 2007.