"Oscar was an absolute blast to play with and, of all the times that I’ve played here at the Dunhill, today is one of the rounds I’ll remember forever, said Casey. "Playing with Michael [Phelps] and Oscar, was brilliant. I’ve never done such a thing before, but I got the mobile phone out and had a picture taken with the two of them on the sixth tee. To me, these guys are heroes and it was a real treat.
“Oscar,” he added, “is an absolute gentleman and is funny as well, I didn’t know that. He is just a great guy and an incredibly positive one.”
Like the Dunhill teaching professionals, Casey had furnished a few tips: “Oscar has unbelievable upper body strength and absolutely smashes the golf ball. The upper body strength is apt to take over, so there was a bit of old school teaching from Paul McGinley (Pistorius’s partner) and I to get him around the golf course.
McGinley, who was no less taken with his playing companion’s joie de vivre than Casey, did not make it past Saturday's cut while he and Pistorius similarly failed in the team event. Pistorius, though he had wished for better for McGinley, was not unduly concerned for himself. Competitive he may be but, while he would like to get down to single figures, he loves golf for golf’s sake.
“I don’t see myself improving much because I’m quite rubbish," said Pistorius. "To be honest, I think that the best thing about golf as far as I’m concerned is that I don’t take it too seriously. I can get out, see nature and, in weeks like this, see the world.”
He doubted, for instance, whether he would ever forget the sensation of turning for home on the Old Course for a first time and seeing the old grey town looming in the distance.
In its own way, it had been as magical as anything – and that includes his gold medals in London – that 2012 had to offer.
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