Golf-Casey fulfils childhood ambition with PGA triumph

By Tony Jimenez

VIRGINIA WATER, England, May 24 (Reuters) - Britain's Paul Casey said he achieved a long-held ambition by winning the PGA Championship on Sunday.

"This was a tournament I used to watch growing up as a kid," the new world number three told reporters after a closing 68 gave him a one-shot victory over fellow countryman Ross Fisher at Wentworth. "I have great memories.

"It's quite strange thinking I used to stand there listening to the sound of a ball go off the golf club and whistle past my head and now I'm on the other side of the ropes."

Casey said the main reason he was able to win the European Tour's flagship event was the scholarship he received from the nearby Foxhills Club when he was 11.

"Certainly I would have to say that is the reason I am sitting here," said the 31-year-old Englishman. "My parents couldn't afford to be a member of a club in this area.

"Four of us every year were given free membership and coaching at Foxhills.

"They did it for golf and tennis. I actually went for the tennis scholarship when I was 10 and didn't make it, that was probably a good thing," joked Casey.

WORLD RANKINGS