Casey earns third worldwide win of '09 at Wentworth

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Paul Casey celebrates his BMW PGA Championship victory with his caddie.

VIRGINIA WATER, England (AP) -- Paul Casey coolly birdied the last two holes to win the BMW PGA Championship by one stroke and rise to No. 3 in the world on Sunday.

Casey, 41st at the start of the year, fired a closing four-under 68 to hold off fast-charging local man Ross Fisher, who had completed the week's low round of 64 and was waiting to see whether that would be good enough to force a playoff.

But the 31-year-old Casey holed from eight feet for a birdie at the 17th and then from four feet after blasting out of a greenside bunker at the last to add this title to The Abu Dhabi Golf Championship and Shell Houston Open titles he won earlier this year.

Casey, who as a boy used to sneak into Wentworth to watch previous editions of this tournament, had also finished runner-up to Geoff Ogilvy in the Wolrd Golf championships-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona in February.

"It was not an easy putt, but no putt to win a title ever is," Casey said of his curling 4-footer at the last.

"This feels great. All the great names are on this trophy, and I wanted to be there as well."

He played the front nine in even par. "I ground it out. I saw that Ross was having a great round, and I knew it would be tough."

Looking back to this tournament in the late 1980s, when it was won by the likes of Nick Faldo, Ian Woosnam and Bernhard Langer, Casey said: "It's nice to be part of that history.

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

Casey, who also won the World Match Play title here in 2006, finished at 271 with Fisher at 272.

Soren Kjeldsen, playing with Casey, shot 69 to take third place at 275 from Stephen Dodd, whose 67 gave him fourth place at 276.

Rory McIlroy, in contention after a 65 on Saturday, could only manage a 71 and finished fifth.

"This has been a great week for me," said the 20-year-old player from Northern Ireland, despite his finish. "Because it has put me back on track."

Looking ahead to this week's European Open at The London Club, he added: "I feel as if I have the game to win there. This is a good building block for the rest of the season."

McIlroy was one stroke ahead of a group that included former British Open champion Ben Curtis, who produced a whirlwind finish with birdies on the 15th and 16th holes and eagle-3s on the last two.

Curtis holed from 30 and 15 feet for the birdies, then rifled a 3-wood 280 yards to within 4 feet for eagle at the 17th. His second shot at the last hole finished up against the hospitality pavilion. He took a free drop and pitched in from 50 feet.

Miguel Angel Jimenez, the winner last year and co-leader after the first round this year, had a double eagle at the long fourth hole where his 6-iron second from 206 yards finished in the hole. But he faded to a 76 and had to share 43rd place.