CRUSHERS’ CASEY OFF TO STRONG START

Paul Casey has enjoyed success around the world, with his 21 professional wins coming in 12 different countries on four different continents. Among his fellow LIV Golf competitors, just Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood have won titles in more countries.

This week, Casey can add to his total as he tees it up at the Porsche Singapore Classic on the DP World Tour. Given that the Englishman comes off his best LIV finish – a tie for second after a playoff loss to Abraham Ancer in Hong Kong – he’ll enter with plenty of form and confidence.

“Some great golf,” said Casey, who is a Porsche Brand Ambassador. “I'm not going to measure it on the playoff hole, on one tee shot, something like that. It was a really good week.”

Casey currently sits fourth in the season-long LIV Golf Individual Championship race, the highest place of any of the four Crushers GC players who have collectively won the last two team trophies. Captain Bryson DeChambeau is seventh, Charles Howell III is 10th and Anirban Lahiri is 25th.

Besides the runner-up in Hong Kong, Casey tied for 11th in the season-opener at Mayakoba, then tied for fifth the following week in Las Vegas. In Jeddah, he tied for 29th without his longtime caddie, Johnny “Long Socks” McLaren, who was back on the bag in Hong Kong.

It’s a much-improved string of performances after a frustrating 2023 season. He started the year with a solo fourth in Mayakoba but did not have another top-20 points finish the rest of the regular season. He missed one event and had to WD in another as he battled through a variety of nagging injuries stemming for a turf toe that he suffered years ago and may eventually require surgery.

An extended offseason allowed his body to recuperate. He said it was the first time he’s had a proper offseason in “20-something years.”

“The offseason was amazing,” the 46-year-old Casey recently told Crushers GC correspondent Joy Chakravarty. “We had a great holiday over Christmas, went to Lapland in Finland with the family, got to see reindeer, and ate some. I got the time needed to calm everything down. And then started working hard on the game in January.

“I am feeling good and energized and ready to work. I still have a few things to work on with my golf game, but I’m very much trending in the right direction.”

The stats prove his point. Casey leads the league in Greens in Regulation at 77.31%, and he’s fourth in Fairways Hit at 64.29%. He’s also third in Scrambling.

His last win was three years ago at the Dubai Desert Classic. Now, with his improved health, he’s ready to get back into the winner’s circle.

Even if it doesn’t happen this week at Laguna National, he’ll get another chance in Singapore on May 3-5 at LIV Golf Singapore on the Sentosa course. And in July, he’ll get another opportunity at adding to his country win total at LIV Golf Andalucía, as he’s never won in Spain.

“I feel very refreshed and energized and a lot of that's to do with having an offseason,” he said. “I'm looking to get back to my usual kind of golf – and maybe even better than that.”