Harrington shines in Dubai as Casey enters Ryder Cup frame
Paul Casey. Picture: Getty Images
Pádraig Harrington notched his best finish for more than two years but he was even happier to see Paul Casey surge into Ryder Cup contention with an emphatic victory in the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.
The Ryder Cup skipper (50 on August 31) insists he will head to the PGA Tour Champions full-time next year if he fails to at least contend for a win on one of the main tours this season.
He looks to be on track to do just that after closing with a two-under 70 to finish tied for sixth (€77,666) with Sergio Garcia and Bernd Wiesberger on nine-under for his best finish since he was fifth in the 2018 KLM Open, 28 months ago.
But he was even more pleased to see Casey thrust himself right into the mix for a Ryder Cup place with his 15th European Tour win - a number that matches Harrington’s European Tour career total, albeit without the three majors.
The Englishman (43) went into the final round with a one-stroke lead over Robert MacIntyre and while the young Scot drew level with a birdie at the second, the eventual champion birdied the third and fourth and went on to chisel out a two-under 70 for a four-shot win over South African Brandon Stone on 17-under par.
MacIntyre's title chance evaporated when he bogeyed four holes in a row from the seventh but he eventually regrouped to finish five behind in third after a 74 and will move up into the world's top 50 for the first time in his career to 45th and into contention for a Ryder Cup place.
Harrington could only be pleased with the outcome, having said on the eve of the final round that Casey, who moves into the world's top 15, "should be a stalwart of the side."
"He's actually one of the players who should be right in his prime," Harrington said. "I am not worried about him for sure."
The Dubliner was one of the first players on hand to congratulate Casey at the 18th green, quickly shrugging off what he felt was his own disappointing performance on what he described as US Open style greens.
"I missed three short ones early on which made me tentative on the other ones for the day," said Harrington, who now heads to the PGA Tour to play the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and the Genesis Invitational. "It's the first day I have been negative for strokes gained putting having been positive all the other days so that's a good sign for me."
Congratulations from the Captain 🤜 pic.twitter.com/PpnXjsIh2n
— Ryder Cup Europe (@RyderCupEurope) January 31, 2021
He added: "It was a good day as well for the Ryder Cup. A great performance for Paul Casey, congratulations, and also for Robert MacIntyre. A good start to the year for both of those. It's getting interesting with that Ryder Cup and it's nice to see some good players coming to the top."
Casey was emotional at the finish after his first win since the 2019 Porsche European Open, declaring: "I've regained my youth."
There are more than seven months of qualifying remaining but making Harrington's European team is clearly a big goal.
"There's a long way to go," Casey said. "I'd love to be part of his team, in any capacity. I'd obviously love to be on the golf course first, because I think that's where I'm most useful and if I'm not on the golf course, I'd still love to be part of his team and do my bit for Europe.
"Paris (in 2018) was the greatest experience I've had and I know, or I think, Whistling Straits is going to be a battle. It's always difficult on their turf."
While he did not enjoy a "soulless" 2020 in the Covid-19 bubble, he's hoping he can play a Ryder Cup with fans at Whistling Straits and believes MacIntyre would be a huge asset to Harrington's team.
"I'd feel very comfortable standing next to him on a first tee at Whistling Straits, and he's only going to get better and better and better; he's pretty fearless," Casey said of the Scot.
Shane Lowry also wants to be there but while he was tied 10th overnight, he had a poor week on the greens and made six bogeys in a closing 75 to slip to tied 27th on four-under.
Lowry joins Graeme McDowell, Paul Dunne and Cormac Sharvin in this week's Saudi International before heading back to his US base for a run of events to the US Open.
Paul Casey: “I'm so over the moon. Not just 15 [victories]. The fact it's Dubai. It's an iconic event on The European Tour. You guys all know that. One of the coolest trophies around.
“You know, and kind of the fact that last year, we're still in the middle of a pandemic, last year was just, you know, like a lot of people, rubbish. I didn't enjoy last year. This year is still, obviously we're still difficult times, isn't it. But yeah, something very cool because it's not been great. I've not enjoyed my golf -- I didn't enjoy my golf in 2020. I mean, I played well one week but that was about it. So this is, yeah, this is really cool.
“It was tough. Didn't look at scoreboards all day. Got off to a great start. Really only hit one poor shot on the front nine and that was the 7-iron into the 8th I pulled into the bunker. But I walked to the 10th tee and said to Johnny, look, when you can say you've only hit one bad golf shot in nine holes, that's pretty good. And then really only hit one more poor shot on the back nine and that was another 7-iron into the bank on 15.
“I didn't look at the scoreboards until I got on to the 18th green and then I saw I had a three-shot margin there. It doesn't really tell the full picture. It was a lot tougher out there.
“And, for the record, playing with Rob today, great player. He's got a very strong possibility of being on Paddy's Ryder Cup team come later this year. He was brilliant. So it doesn't really paint the whole kind of picture.”
Brandon Stone: “I’m obviously extremely proud of the performance I put up this week. Played some lovely golf, considering I was -- I think I was two or three over through five holes on Thursday. So it's a fantastic fight back. And you know, any time you're going to be in contention here at the Emirates, it's quite special.
“The media have been supporting this tournament for many years, and the illustrious list of winners that have their name on the trophy is quite special. And on top of all that, I got to play with Sergio which is like a boyhood dream come true.”
Robert MacIntyre: “I fight till the end. It was the start I was looking for. I thought, here we go. Sometimes it doesn't go for you, and today was one of them days. [Paul] was brilliant. Again, he stuck to his own game. He played great. He controlled himself. I've just got to look up to that and see what I can get to.”
Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates Golf Club (Par 72)
271 P Casey (Eng) 67 70 64 70,
275 B Stone (RSA) 70 67 66 72,
276 R Macintyre (Sco) 67 68 67 74,
278 K Samooja (Fin) 68 68 71 71, L Canter (Eng) 70 68 68 72,
279 B Wiesberger (Aut) 73 68 69 69, Pádraig Harrington (Irl) 71 69 69 70, S Garcia (Esp) 66 73 67 73,
280 R Hojgaard (Den) 72 72 69 67, M Schwab (Aut) 70 69 73 68, A Wu (Chn) 71 71 70 68, A Arnaus (Esp) 68 69 74 69, T Kanaya (Jpn) 70 69 72 69, A Rozner (Fra) 70 71 69 70, A Levy (Fra) 70 68 71 71, T Detry (Bel) 67 67 74 72,
281 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 70 71 70 70, T Fleetwood (Eng) 68 68 73 72, L Westwood (Eng) 69 68 72 72,
282 R Sterne (RSA) 64 74 75 69, K Kitayama (USA) 65 72 75 70,
283 C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 74 70 70 69, L Herbert (Aus) 74 66 72 71, W Ormsby (Aus) 68 73 71 71, T Hatton (Eng) 76 64 71 72, S Sharma (Ind) 70 68 72 73,
284 J Winther (Den) 69 75 71 69, F Zanotti (Par) 71 67 76 70, G Forrest (Sco) 74 69 71 70, T Pieters (Bel) 71 73 68 72, N Colsaerts (Bel) 70 73 67 74, S Jamieson (Sco) 70 71 68 75, Shane Lowry (Irl) 70 72 67 75, J Harding (RSA) 66 70 72 76,
285 A Bjork (Swe) 71 71 73 70, D Burmester (RSA) 72 72 71 70, D Lipsky (USA) 72 71 68 74, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 73 71 66 75, M Korhonen (Fin) 70 67 72 76, J Rose (Eng) 71 69 68 77,
286 N Bertasio (Ita) 75 68 72 71, J Scrivener (Aus) 75 69 70 72, R Fox (Nzl) 73 69 71 73,
287 D Willett (Eng) 74 69 72 72, M Kaymer (Ger) 68 70 75 74, J Luiten (Ned) 74 69 70 74, G Migliozzi (Ita) 71 67 73 76,
288 J Schaper (RSA) 70 73 74 71, A Sullivan (Eng) 70 72 73 73, S Brown (Eng) 72 70 72 74,
289 N Elvira (Esp) 71 72 74 72, S Crocker (USA) 71 73 73 72, S Valimaki (Fin) 71 73 73 72, A Chesters (Eng) 72 72 72 73, B Hebert (Fra) 72 72 72 73, M Wallace (Eng) 71 71 72 75, P Larrazábal (Esp) 70 73 71 75, A Otaegui (Esp) 67 74 72 76,
290 J Walters (RSA) 72 70 69 79,
291 J Smith (Eng) 71 73 75 72, C Wood (Eng) 71 73 74 73, G Coetzee (RSA) 72 72 74 73, M Kinhult (Swe) 70 72 74 75, R Fisher (Eng) 68 74 74 75, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 68 71 74 78,
292 E Molinari (Ita) 76 67 74 75,
294 R Paratore (Ita) 74 70 73 77,
295 M Jiménez (Esp) 74 70 76 75, C Morikawa (USA) 71 73 76 75, R Ramsay (Sco) 71 72 76 76,
297 G Green (Mas) 73 71 83 70
