Paul

Casey

Casey cited an injury for this pre-tourney WD. We saw him deal with back injuries last spring and more recently he’s settled for finishes of T25 or worse in six straight events on the LIV and Asian Golf circuits. Taking his place will be Sam Steven who arrives with podium finishes in two of his last six starts but will be making his PGA Championship debut

At press time (10:56 am), no reason has been furnished for the Englishman’s WD, who had also WD’d from this week’s pro-am on the lead-in. The World No. 26 is replaced in the field by alternate and World No. 534 Jason Dufner, who will now accompany Joel Dahmen and Patrick Reed off No. 1 tee. Casey, a pre-tourney 40/1 outright, was scheduled to make his first start since the WGC-Dell Match Play six weeks ago, where he lasted just two holes of his opening match on Wednesday against Corey Conners before conceding the contest (back pain), and then conceded both his Thursday and Friday matches versus Alex Noren and Louis Oosthuizen on the day of. The 44-year-old also bowed out prior to the start of the 86th Masters four weeks ago, so whatever is ailing him, it remains an issue, obviously.

Casey provided an update to fans last night via social media, “Back pain made it impossible to walk the course or swing the club. I couldn’t even get the tee in the ground on the 2nd tee.” At that time he was still hopeful to make a day-two return but decided against that decision this morning. At this time he hasn’t officially withdrawn which leaves a small chance that he’d play his third-round match against Louis Oosthuizen but that seems unlikely. With this concession, Alex Noren improves to 2-0-0 on the week, making him the first two reach two points on the week to stake early control of Group 10.

Casey opened his week with a par while his opponent swallowed a bogey to give Casey an early 1UP lead. The Englishman gave it right back when he found trouble off the tee at the par-4 second hole. After his tee shot at the following hole, Casey called it quits due to injury. The match was tied at the time. Casey has not backed out of his second or third match at this time, but it’s certainly possible that Louis Oosthuizen and Alex Noren are also given a free win, if Casey can’t give it a go over the next few days.

Taking their place in the field will be Bronson Burgoon and Austin Cook. This will be Burgoon’s 11th start of the 2021-22 season with his best effort coming all the way back in September when he finished in a tie for 16th at the Fortinet Championship. Struggling since, perhaps this will be a spot for the 34-year-old to find some form as he captured a top-20 result last year. Similar can be said for Cook as he too found the top-20 in Napa, his best result of the season. Unable to find consistency in his game, the 31-year-old has played well in the last two March playings of the Valspar Championship, finishing in a tie for ninth-place in 2019 and a tie for 40th in 2018.

The Englishman carded a bogey-free second round and had just one blemish in round three. That steady golf continued with three birdies and one bogey on his opening 12 holes. The flow of birdies stopped there, though, settling for pars for the remainder of the day. That included a ‘5' at the par-5 16th where he piped a beautiful drive but landed in someone’s divot. “deep down I wanted to go for it out of that lie, but it felt too risky. I thought I could still make birdie, and then who knows what happens over the last two. Look what happened over the last hole. It would have been brave, but maybe foolish to try to go for it. But it’s a shame. It was the best drive I hit all day.” While it may not have ended in a trophy, this week will go in the books as his second straight top 5 at THE PLAYERS, the best two finishes on his tournament resume.

The 44-year-old, who opened the event with triple bogey-7 at 10 in R1 on Thursday, has rallied all the way back and will be in the penultimate threesome for today’s unscheduled Monday finish. He was 2-under thru nine holes on Sunday (T4) when play was suspended, and returned Monday morning to one bogey-5 at 13 (missed par-saver from 4'5") and two birdies at 11 (from 8'11") and 17 (34'6"). The Englishman, who missed birdie at the last from 7'7", which would’ve gotten him into the final group, will be with R2 co-leader Sam Burns and Cameron Smith for the finale. He’s vying for his fourth TOUR win in 302 events, first since the 2019 Valspar (as defender) 52 starts ago, where he was the 54-hole leader by one. The Arizona State product’s best finish at THE PLAYERS in 13 prior visits is T5 last year, where he was T5 thru 54 holes (73-67-67-70).

Round 2 was completed at 3:08 pm ET Sunday and R3 began at 3:15 pm with threesomes off both sets of tees. The Englishman, who played with Burns in Rounds 1 and 2, will be in the third-to-last threesome for R3 with Corey Conners (69) and Keith Mitchell (72), scheduled for 4:54 pm. Out of the early/late draw, he’s signed for laps of 70-69, and registered the only error-free lap in R2 of 72 players on his side of the draw. The 44-year-old arrived off a 72nd-place finish last week at Bay Hill, where he was T6 at the midpoint (71-70), before playing the weekend in 16-over 77-83. He owns two top 10s at THE PLAYERS in 13 previous appearances, including a best of T5 last year, where he was T14 at halfway and T5 at the three-quarter pole (73-67-67-70). Thru 36 holes this week, the Arizona State product has totaled nine birdies against one bogey and a triple bogey-7 at 10 in R1, the triple his first hole of the event on Thursday, and ranks 58th in SG: Off-the-Tee (-0.830), 5th in SG: Approach (4.912), and 17th in SG: Putting (2.889), highlighted by a 53'4" birdie at the par-3 17th in R2.

The Englishman had a very interesting round from a putting perspective. His irons were dialed in to give himself five scoring chances from inside of nine feet but he converted just one of those chances. He made up for the short misses with a trio of bombs from 22'5", 34'10" and 42'11" throughout the day. By day’s end, it canceled out to land around field average in strokes gained putting. Where he’s really shining is with the irons as he’s gained 5.8 strokes on approach this week which currently leads the field. Casey has found top 10s in two of his last three trips to Bay Hill and looks to be on track for another one, but there is still a look of work to be done with two rounds remaining.

As last time we saw Casey on the PGA Tour he finished in a tie for 25th in a limited field at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT. Taking a few months off, he traveled to Singapore where he began the week as a heavy favorite for the SMBC Singapore Open. Finishing in a tie for 16th, he then traveled to Dubai for his defense effort in the Slync.io Dubai Desert Classic. Putting together a strong week, the Englishman was fabulous from tee-to-green, but disappointed with the flat stick en route to his T-12 finish. Coming off a T-24 at the Saudi International, the 44-year-old will now make the trip to Los Angeles for his 10th appearance in the Genesis Invitational. With a tournament scoring average of 70.47, after missing the cut in his debut, Casey has rattled off eight consecutive weekend appearances including a playoff loss in 2015. Priced at an affordable $7,600 on DraftKings, Casey makes for a safe option in the $7,000 range.