DUNHILL LINKS CHAMPIONSHIP

September 29, 2005

Paul Casey

68 (-4) CARNOUSTIE

Q. What happened on 17?

PAUL CASEY: On 17, I completely missed the ball with the clubface and had 77 yards to the green which is a record for me on a par three I think!

Q. Do you feel that you have got your game back?

PAUL CASEY: Yeah, the game's great. Really good. It's back and I am hoping that it'll get better than it was before I started playing poorly. I am really happy with the way that I struck it apart from one or two shots! But I dealt with the bad shots really well and I am enjoying my golf as well.

Q. Did you think that it might not happen this year?

PAUL CASEY: I never put a time on it. I knew that it was going to come back, it was just a question of when. It had shown signs of coming back over the summer, at The K Club and places like that. I had hit some form in various patches but never really put a round of golf together. Maybe it was the Ryder Cup points starting up that gave me a real boost. It was like as fresh slate almost.

Q. Rich Beem was saying that this was a good day to get Carnoustie out of the way -- would you agree?

PAUL CASEY: Maybe. It could be the toughest course if it really blows -- if it's really fierce. I think that you can get away with more errant shots at St. Andrews and Kingsbarns because it is more open but here the rough is very penal. It is a great course though and it's also nice to get it out the way because I am staying in St. Andrews!

Q. You don't have any horrors from the '99 Open then?

PAUL CASEY: No. I watched it. Golly! I had never played here before I played this event and I always thought that this could be the toughest of the three. It also has the best greens of the three.

Q. What was your reaction to DiMarco's comments?

PAUL CASEY: I don't really want to touch that subject. I think my fellow players will probably comment on that for you. To me it looked liked they had a great team spirit the Americans last week but I didn't watch too much of it because we were battling against Continental Europe.

Q. Whoever wins this has a huge kick start in Ryder Cup Points?

PAUL CASEY: A huge kick start. I would love to win this week. It's not only a huge boost in Ryder Cup points but also a premier event on The European Tour. I'd also love to win playing these three courses -- especially with St. Andrews on the rotation -- it would be a dream to have a victory at a venue like that.

End of FastScripts.