Golf: Casey's biggest fight will be against fatigue barrier

PAUL CASEY will continue to have treatment all week at The Masters and looks like having to play through the fatigue barrier to win his first major.

While it is all systems go for Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter, England's other two players in the world top ten, Casey is still some way from being fully fit after missing his Houston Open title defence last week with shoulder and rib problems.

Europe's top three – not one of whom has won a major yet, of course – were practice partners yesterday, although for Poulter it was only nine holes so he could watch Arsenal's Champions League game.

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Casey and Westwood completed the round in the scorching heat, but the former admitted he was "a bit stiff" by the end and was feeling his legs.

"It was great for probably 13 or 14 holes, but then I got a bit tired," he said. "It's probably because I didn't play last week."

Augusta's hills make it one of the toughest walking courses, even more so in extreme temperatures, and he said: "I would not want to play 36 holes (a day) round here. As for the shoulder, I'm having ultrasound and cold laser at nights, anti-inflammatories, massage – and that will continue all week."

Last summer, of course, Casey tore a rib muscle just before The Open and could not even play the US PGA a month later.

"I've come to realise it's clearly about getting older." added the 32-year-old. "I'm not overly-excited about my physical state, but from a mental state, which has probably been the thing that has not been my strongest asset in the past, I'm much more mature than two years ago. It's so annoying I don't quite have the ball-striking I did then, but I still have my length and I feel good about my chances, I really do."

He was planning only nine more holes on the final day of practice today, plus the fun par-three competition that nearly all the players take part in.

Casey admitted that Westwood and Poulter would have beaten him yesterday, so he was glad he left the other two to have a money match over the outward half.

"Both were making birdies, but Westy took the cash," he said. "He's playing very well and we both hit it longer than Ian, but he's got such a good short game and his putting is phenomenal."

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It is now thought that Casey's problem of a week ago might have been caused by not taking in enough fluids.

He said: "Water is almost like the oil for the muscles. We don't know if the muscles tightened up and a rib slipped out of place or the rib slipped from sleeping funny or something and then the muscle spasmed."

Westwood, who suffered briefly in Houston as well when he did not take in enough carbohydrates in the heat, is back to health – and despite being an asthmatic is not feeling any ill-effects from the high pollen levels in Augusta.

"I'm feeling good and playing well," said Westwood, who has finished third in the last two majors. This looks a great chance to go two better with Tiger Woods having been out of the game for nearly five months and Phil Mickelson starting the season sluggishly.

"It should be good, but I can't worry about anybody else," stated the 36-year-old from Worksop.

"You've just got to concentrate on what you're doing."

TEE-OFF TIMES AT AUGUSTA

First round of The Masters Tournament (Augusta National GC, Augusta, Georgia, USA unless stated, all times BST): (x) denotes amateurs. Starting at hole 1: 1250 Nathan Green (Aus), Heath Slocum, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa). 1301 Craig Stadler, John Merrick, Jerry Kelly. 1312 Ian Woosnam (Wal), Brian Gay, Marc Leishman (Aus) 1323 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Scott Verplank, Brad Benjamin 1334 John Senden (Aus), David Toms, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 1345 Mark O'Meara, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Nathan Smith. 1356 Martin Kaymer (Ger), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Luke Donald (Eng) 1407 Tom Watson, Tim Clark (Rsa), Steve Marino 1418 Bill Haas, Todd Hamilton, Anders Hansen (Den) 1429 Dustin Johnson, Oliver Wilson (Eng), Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 1440 Mike Weir (Can), Lee Westwood (Eng), Metteo Manassero (Ita) 1502 Chad Campbell, Francesco Molinari (Ita), Paul Casey (Eng) 1013 Ernie Els (Rsa), Anthony Kim, Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn) 1524 Angel Cabrera (Arg), Jim Furyk, Byeong-hun An (Kor) 1535 Phil Mickelson, Robert Allenby (Aus), YE Yang (Kor) 1546 Hunter Mahan, Retief Goosen (Rsa), Robert Karlsson (Swe) 1557 Ben Crane, Simon Dyson (Eng), Michael Campbell (Nzl) 1608 Larry Mize, Ryan Palmer, Chris Wood (Eng) 1619 Sandy Lyle (Sco), Justin Leonard, Kevin Na 1630 Ben Crenshaw, Steve Flesch, Ben Martin 1641 Ryan Moore, Ross Fisher (Eng), Nick Watney 1652 Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Soren Hansen (Den), John Rollins 1714 Vijay Singh (Fij), Jason Dufner, Sean O'Hair 1725 Ben Curtis, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 1736 Camilo Villegas (Col), Kenny Perry, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 1747 Zach Johnson, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Chang-won Han (Kor) 1758 Fred Couples, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 1809 Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Lucas Glover 1820 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Stewart Cink, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 1831 Ian Poulter (Eng), Yuta Ikeda (Jpn), Steve Stricker 1842 Matt Kuchar, Tiger Woods, K J Choi (Kor) 1853 Adam Scott (Aus), David Duval, Ricky Barnes.