Kapalua eagle gives Casey reason to smile

Kapalua: Almost back to full fitness after an injury-plagued 2009, Britain’s Paul Casey had a broad grin on his face after eagling the par-five last in Friday’s second round at the SBS Championship.

The English world number eight struck a three-iron from 267 yards to four feet and coolly knocked in the putt to put welcome gloss on a four-under-par 69 at the Kapalua Resort. “With the downhill (lie), it was only playing about 230 (yards) to the front edge,” Casey told Reuters after posting a seven-under total of 139 at the midway point of the PGA Tour’s season opener. “The goal was to try and land a three-iron on the front half of the green and I pulled it perfectly, straight at the flag,” he added with a smile. “It was a great way to finish and I wanted to shoot in the sixties today. I was playing with (Geoff) Ogilvy today and I felt like I was getting left behind. He was playing great golf so to shoot in the sixties was not bad.” Ogilvy, the defending champion at Kapalua, fired a sparkling 66 but the tournament pace was set by American Lucas Glover with a sizzling 65 as the U.S. Open champion forged three strokes ahead of the field.“I wanted to shoot in the sixties today but that only puts me at seven under now,” said Casey, who will start Saturday’s third round a distant eight shots behind Glover. “I felt I needed to get as close to double digits (under par) as possible because I knew somebody was going to surpass that, and they already have. “I think this golf course could yield a pretty low number and it’s a case of not getting too far behind in my position,” the Arizona-based Briton added. Good Position “If I can keep myself only three or four back tomorrow, that puts me in a really good position for Sunday.” After a 2009 campaign that began with major promise and red-hot form before being derailed by a rib injury in July, Casey has a sharpened appetite for this season. “I feel great,” he said. “I feel 95 percent fit. I don’t really feel anything in the ribs right now, the intercostal and the obliques. “The reason it’s not 100 percent is because my range of motion isn’t where I want it to be. The club’s not getting back to parallel and occasionally I’ll come out of shots, not maintain my spine angle and lose the ball left or right. “And that’s just through the body being a little bit bound up. It’s almost like scar tissue that I’ve got to break loose and get that range of motion back. “Once I do that, and hopefully that will be just a matter of time through playing golf another month or so, we’ll be back to 100 percent.” Casey won his first PGA Tour title at the Houston Open last April and clinched the European Tour’s flagship PGA Championship in May before pulling a rib muscle the week before the British Open. Two attempts to return to the PGA Tour over the next couple of months then had to be aborted as his 2009 season fell apart. “As much as I’ve tried, the only way of really getting back to very, very sharp, world-class golf -- which is what you’ve got to play against the rest of these guys out here -- is by actually being out here,” Casey said. Bureau Report