Casey claims ANZ Championship

England’s Paul Casey fended off a late wobble and challenges from Peter Lonard and Stuart Appleby to win the ANZ Championship at the New South Wales Golf Club on Sunday.

The 25-year-old shot a final round of 71 to finish on 45 points for the tournament, four ahead of Nick O’Hern and Appleby to claim only his second professional title.

Lonard, who had given Casey an early scare by reaching the turn in 30, eventually tied with Jarrod Moseley for fourth on 39 points.

Casey’s only previous title was at the Scottish PGA Championship in 2001, but he had shown excellent form in leading to the halfway mark at the Heineken Classic last week.

And the ANZ Championship’s modified Stableford scoring format, which encourages attacking golf by awarding points for birdies and eagles, suits Casey’s style.

He struggled a little on the home stretch but had forged a healthy enough cushion to remain just out of touch and land the £127,000 (350,000 Australian dollars) first prize.

“The first win was tough and I don’t know if the second is tougher – they are all tough,” Casey said.

“This shows the first wasn’t a flash in the pan and it probably answers a few critics out there.”

Casey felt before the round began that a score in excess of 50 points would be required, particularly with Lonard already on the course and on the charge.

The tournament is one of only two in the world to employ this scoring system, used to encourage attacking golf.

A birdie wins two points, an eagle five and with a par being zero and a bogey only minus one, the onus is on the players to attack the pin.

As a result, the state of the game can change extremely quickly as Lonard proved early in the day.

He began 16 points back before blitzing the front nine in 30 to surge to 42 points by the 13th.

But Lonard, who finished outside the top two for the first time in four tournaments, double-bogeyed the par four 14th to slip back and once again concede the initiative to Casey.

Lonard and Moseley set the clubhouse target at 39 points, the mark which Casey had been on overnight and therefore not likely to be enough.

Particularly after he birdied the first two holes to reach the turn in 43.

Only twice before in his career had Casey led into the final round – he won on the first opportunity at Gleneagles and came fourth at the German Masters last year.

He made it two out of three, but not before sending a few heart flutters through the galleries.

He sank a birdie on the 10th but successive bogeys on the 15th and 16th dropped him back to 43 points, just as O’Hern birdied the 18th to leapfrog Lonard and Moseley to close just two points adrift.

It was then, on the 17th tee, that Casey looked at the scoreboard for the first time and started making calculations – if he could see off the last two holes in par or better and do better than Appleby, the title was his.

The crucial moment came on the 17th green where he faced an 18-foot putt for par as Appleby birdied the hole to move to 39 points.

Casey remained the calmest man on course to sink the putt, remain on 43 points and force Appleby to go for an eagle on the last.

In a dramatic finale, the Australian’s chip for eagle lipped out of the hole, but it proved no matter as Casey’s approach shot landed within three feet and he sealed victory with a birdie.