Casey hopes to go it alone

Paul Casey hopes he will not need the help of Nick Faldo today as Britain and Ireland try to come from behind in the Seve Trophy at The Heritage west of Dublin.

Continental Europe took the opening fourballs 3-2 and so bad was Casey’s start - three times in water in the first six holes – that captain Faldo came onto the fairway to offer a swing thought.

It did not change the course of Casey’s match as he and Simon Dyson went down four and three to French pair Raphael Jacquelin and Gregory Havret.

But at least by the end the 30-year-old, who pulled out of last week’s British Masters to work on his game, did feel he was starting to play better.

“Nick was trying to help me out and gave me a tip,” said Casey. “It’s not an issue – it was confirmation of the fault I know I’ve got.

“I’m getting it stuck on the way back. I have three of four things I do wrong in my swing and they will always be my faults.

“But on the back nine I was trying to hit a lot of cuts and I hit some very good shots.”

Faldo, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain as well, said: “We have a good relationship. I don’t want to jump in, but I just said to Paul ’hey, can I give you my observations’?

“This is part of the learning curve for me. I’ve got to know the guys whom I can talk to or how to approach them or how they approach me.

“This is part of the communication deal I want with the players. I could see something, I could see him struggling and so I just gave him a really easy sort of thought to recreate momentum.

“He said it helped and that was good. We chatted after the round as well and I presume he’s gone off to the range to work a few things out.”

Casey had time for more work this morning as well as Faldo has put him out for the second series of fourballs and this time has put him with Rose so that Britain and Ireland’s two highest-ranked players are back as a partnership. They played together in the 2002 and 2003 World Cups.

Communication with his players seems to going well for Faldo then. Communication with the press less so.

At the end of yesterday’s play the former world number one, who had an uneasy relationship with the media in his prime, said he was not going to talk this week about anything to do with the Ryder Cup.

That came in the wake of Paul McGinley’s resignation as an assistant captain on Wednesday.

McGinley wants to concentrate on his own game in the hope of winning a fourth cap, but his resignation was announced amid speculation of him being snubbed by Faldo for this week’s match.

There are even reports of Faldo leading McGinley to believe he would get a wild card, but then giving it to Dyson instead.

Faldo and Mcginley both refused to comment.