The future is bright for Casey

Paul Casey headed back to the United States today hoping that the next time he is back in Europe he is a major champion and even higher than third in the world.

Casey moved up from seventh to third in the rankings with his superb victory in the European Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth yesterday.

Only Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are ahead and it is not known when Mickelson will play next because of his wife Amy’s breast cancer battle.

Casey, whose career has taken off with three wins since he was married in December, said: “My thoughts and Jocelyn’s and my whole family go out to Phil and the whole Mickelson family.

“Hopefully everything turns out good for them. I would love for Phil to be playing.”

The American has pulled out of his title defence at the Colonial tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, this week, but Casey will be there and is also competing in next week’s Memorial in Ohio.

After that he will be making an advance trip to Bethpage Black on New York’s Long Island, where the US Open starts on June 18.

He has not revealed all the “lofty” targets he and American coach Peter Kostis listed for this season, but with a smile he said it was “a reasonable assumption” that a major was among them.

The 31-year-old, whose birdies on the two closing par fives gave him a one-shot win over fellow Englishman Ross Fisher, commented: “There are lots of things to try and accomplish and certainly the major success is at the top of the list.”

The Ryder Cup star has yet to have even a top-five finish in any of the four and his best placing of sixth was five years ago on his Masters debut.

But never has his confidence been this high and he is simply bowled over by the fact that Nick Faldo, Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam and Colin Montgomerie are the only other Britons to reach the top three in the world since the rankings began in 1986.

He said: “Three of those guys are major champions and Colin won seven Order of Merits.”

When he was told that Montgomerie’s haul was actually eight he replied: “Sorry, Colin. Apologies to the Ryder Cup captain.

“It’s very, very flattering to be included in those names. I still think I have a lot to do to get even slightly close to what they achieved.”

Casey is clear leader of Europe’s new “Race To Dubai” money list, moving ahead of Geoff Ogilvy three months after the Australian beat him in the final of the World Match Play in Arizona.