Eagle-eyed Casey grabs Irish Open glory

It was the most English of distances — a couple of paces less than a cricket pitch — yet for Paul Casey the 20-yard walk to pull the ball out of the hole on the 18th green on the Montgomerie Course was the most pleasant of journeys.

A spectacular eagle three from 60 feet gave the 35-year old Englishman the 12th European Tour title of his career, allowing him to come from four strokes behind overnight leader Joost Luiten to win by three from the Dutchman and England’s Robert Rock on 14 under par thanks to a closing, five under par 67.

Ranked 169th in the world from a career high of third in 2009, Casey is now back in to the world’s top 100 having endured enough bad luck and heartache over the past four years to last a lifetime.