Casey and Donald power England to World Cup victory

Paul Casey, with another inspired putting display, and Luke Donald earned England a one-shot victory over home favourites Spain in the WGC-World Cup of Golf on Sunday.

Ryder Cup players Casey and Donald fired an eight-under-par 64 in the last-day foursomes, finishing on 31-under 257 at the Real Club.

Casey, 27, had been under pressure all week after his much-publicised attack on American sports culture, but he put that behind him by sinking a clutch of long-range putts as England reeled off nine birdies on the day.

"We mixed our strengths," a jubilant Donald told reporters. "I was able to play to my strength, which is my iron-play, and Paul is a fantastic putter."

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods collected his first strokeplay title of a difficult year when he stormed to an eight-shot victory at the Dunlop Phoenix tournament here yesterday.

Leading by 10 strokes overnight, the American produced a three-under-par 67 for a 16-under total of 264 to taste success for the first time in four visits to Japan.

Woods' triumph signalled a welcome return to form after his five-year reign as world number one was ended by Vijay Singh.

Scores
World Cup:
257 England (Paul Casey/Luke Donald) 61-64-68-64. 258 Spain (Sergio Garcia/Miguel Angel Jimenez) 63-68-61-66. 260 Ireland (Padraig Harrington/Paul McGinley) 60-71-64-65. 263 South Africa (Trevor Immelman/Rory Sabbatini) 66-65-64-68. 265 Austria (Martin Wiegele/Markus Brier 60-70-68-67, Netherlands (Robert-Jan Derksen/Maarten Lafeber) 65-69-63-68. 267 Germany (Kariem Baraka/Marcel Siem) 64-69-66-68, Sweden (Joakim Haeggman/Fredrik Jacobson 64-67-64-72, United States (Bob Tway/Scott Verplank) 64-67-64-72.

Final round of the Dunlop Phoenix meet (Japanese unless stated):
264 Tiger Woods (US) 65-67-65-67. 272 Ryoken Kawagishi 71-67-69-65. 274 Choi Kyoung-Ju (KOR) 72-66-71-65. 275 Steven Conran (AUS) 73-68-69-65. 276 Hideto Tanihara 69-70-69-68, Daniel Chopra (SWE) 71-68-68-69. 277 Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 75-69-69-64. 278 Toru Taniguchi 73-70-71-64, Kaname Yokoo 68-67-73-70.