Paul Casey proud of his Masters Tournament record

Paul Casey is proud of his Masters Tournament record. With good reason.

In his dozen starts, he has five top-10 finishes, including a run of finishing no worse than sixth from 2015-17.

“I’ve always had a great record there,” the Englishman said. “In my first appearance (in 2006), I finished sixth. I was in the penultimate group in my first Masters. I had a chance to do a Fuzzy Zoeller.”

A “Fuzzy Zoeller” means Casey would have been the first player since Zoeller in 1979 to win at Augusta National in his first start. Horton Smith (1934) and Gene Sarazen (1935) are the others who have done it.

In that first start, Casey closed with 2-over-par 74, spoiling his “Fuzzy Zoeller” chances.

Through the years, Casey has never lost his love for playing Augusta National.

“How do I feel when I go there now?” Casey asked. “Like I’ve always felt - like a kid in a candy store. It’s great.”

With his Masters record and experience at Augusta National Golf Club (42 rounds), Casey doesn’t hesitate when asked if he can win the Masters.

“Yes,” he said.

Casey doesn’t feel like time is running out, but he knows his window of opportunity won’t last forever.

“I’m 41, there are not that many people who have won at 41 and older,” he said.

Five, to be exact. Sam Snead (1954) and Mark O’Meara (1998) were 41, Gary Player (1978) was 42, Ben Crenshaw (1995) was 43 and Jack Nicklaus (1986) was 46. Ben Hogan was 40 when he won the last of his two Masters in 1953.

“I’ve got a few years, got a handful of years,” Casey said of his chances.

His streak of three top-6-or-better finishes ended last year when he barely made the cut, then rallied on the weekend to tie for 15th.

After opening with 74-75, he then shot 69-65.

“It shows you anything can happen in golf,” Casey said. “You think you just scrape through the cut and kind of pop up on the leaderboard, kind of cool. It was a bit of a disappointing week for Friday and it turned out to be one of my certainly more enjoyable experiences because of what happened on the weekend.”

The weekend started on Saturday when he went out in the first group of the day in the third round with Augusta National Golf Club marker Jeff Knox, who is called into action when there is an odd number of players in the field after the cut is made.

Casey shot his 69 that day and followed that with the 65 in the final round that included a birdie, birdie, eagle trip around Amen Corner (Nos. 11-13).

He was 9-under for his round through 16 holes. If he parred in, he’d tie the course record of 63. He instead bogeyed the final two holes, settling for a 65.

“I knew 63 is the course record, 62 is the lowest ever in a major,” Casey said. “So I was aware. Not particularly nervous, just kind of having a good time and obviously didn’t do it, but it was fun.”

Casey said he appreciates the Augusta National because the course is straight forward in its design.

“It’s one of those golf courses that really lays out how it has to be played,” he said. “You actually have fewer options at Augusta than you have at a lot of other golf courses. It dictates the ball flight, the trajectory, spin. It lays it out there. It’s funny. Can you hit this golf shot? Luckily, I have the game that suits it and I like the questions that it asks.”