Golf Events / Editor / 16 March 2007 / Leave a Comment

Paul Casey matched Tiger Woods shot for shot in the opening round of the Bay Hill Invitational as the pair carded 64s in Florida

The Englishman is currently enjoying a purple patch in his career and carried over last year's superb form with victory in the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship back in January.

The 29-year-old sits at the top of the leaderboard in Orlando on six-under par with Woods and Vaughn Taylor, and the trio are two shots clear of five players, including Spain's Sergio Garcia and Sweden's Carl Pettersson.

Mark Calcavecchia, fresh from his victory at the Pods Championship in Tampa Bay, and Trevor Immelman are a shot further back, while Ben Curtis, England's Luke Donald and Sweden's Henrik Stenson carded 68s on day one.

Casey has yet to win on the PGA Tour and would love to claim his maiden success stateside in such a prestigious tournament.

"It's without a doubt one of my top goals," he admitted. "Every week, America has a stellar field but we've got the world's best here this week. Tiger is playing and it's also Mr. Palmer's event so that would make it doubly special.

"If I had to pick one, this would be very nice but there is still a lot of golf to be played before then."

Woods remains the 1.84 market leader to win the event, with Casey coming in for support at 12.5. Taylor can be backed at 24 to triumph.

Garcia is trading at 18, while Pettersson and Donald figure some way back in the market on 70 and 80 respectively.