Casey Properly… Loves America?

Paul Casey is coming to America… again. You’ll recall the difficulties he had two years ago when an ill-timed remark about “properly hating” Americans during the 2004 Ryder Cup made him the most hated Brit this side of Colin Montgomerie. He claimed he was going to play full time in the States in 2005, but after four missed cuts and zero top-10s in his first six events, he tucked tail and played in only four more U.S. PGA events that season. He again spent last year in blissful anonymity amongst his fellow Europeans, but has now decided he needs to play in the U.S. full time to take his game to the next level.

“I want to play against Tiger (Woods), (Jim) Furyk and (Phil) Mickelson week in and week out,” he said. “I’ve got to test myself against those guys all the time. I want to win a major, at least one. And I think in order to raise my game, I’ve got to be here all the time.”

This is fantastic news for fantasy hackers. Casey ranks 21st in the Official World Golf Rankings and is generally regarded as one of the best young players in the game. In just 10 events a year ago, Casey carded four top-10 finishes on this side of the pond and played well enough across the Atlantic to finish 13th on the European Tour Order of Merit. It’s always tough to tell what, exactly, “full-time” means for professional golfers – my guess is he may play as many as 20 events, but not more – but Casey immediately became a top-notch fantasy sleeper the minute he announced his intention to challenge the American stars. In fact, I’m so excited about the possibilities here I’ve already moved him into the top 20 on my preseason cheat sheet.