The Masters: Paul Casey vows to be aggressive in bid for first Green Jacket
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Wednesday 10 April 2019 22:53, UK
Paul Casey has vowed to be brave this week as he believes he can only win the Masters by playing aggressive golf.
Casey, who has climbed to world No 11 on the back of a fine start to 2019 which saw him retain his Valspar Championship title last month, has a good record at Augusta with seven top 15 finishes in his 12 appearances.
Indeed, the Englishman finished no lower than a tie for sixth in the three years between 2015 and 2017, but the 41-year-old, who will play with Jordan Spieth and Brooks Koepka over the first two days, acknowledges he must take some chances if he is to beat the rest of the field in Georgia.
"Rory and Dustin and these guys, they have more than me," he said.
"They're the ultimate guys right now. If they play their best golf, I'm not sure I can beat them, so I've got to try and play them at their own game, and that means being aggressive because conservative play, if I'm not making enough birdies, leaves me no chance."
However, Casey believes both his game and frame of mind are in the perfect place to finally land his first major championship.
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"This is certainly a very, very good opportunity, although maybe I don't quite have the physical attributes that I once did, just based on age," he added.
"And there's no question that the competition I'm going up against is as fierce as ever. Look at Dustin and Rory, who don't have Green Jackets and they desperately want one, so it's a tall task, but why not. I'm very hungry to win it. I want to win it.
"Everything is there. The mental side of it, the physical side of it. I just need probably a little bit of luck, maybe a good tee time, maybe a couple of guys to make a couple of errors, which you don't ever wish on anybody.
"But if I do, there's no reason why I can't give myself a good opportunity come Sunday afternoon. I can't think of a time when I've been as excited for a championship."
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