Paul Casey: Englishman defends Saudi International U-turn

Paul Casey has defended his decision to play in this week’s Saudi International by saying he was wrong to pull out of the inaugural tournament two years ago.

“The position I had two years ago was probably not the right one to have,” said Casey, who is a Unicef ambassador.

“I have ties with Unicef, and I felt that it was not right for me to play.”

However, Casey says he has “learned a lot” in the past two years. “One of the things I was flat-out wrong on, was with my Unicef ties because they are not a political organisation,” he added.

“Their focus is purely on looking after the vulnerability of children around the world and doing everything they can to save them.

“I was reminded that if you stay away, don’t engage, don’t talk, and don’t visit, then you are merely hardening the position and that doesn’t do any good.”

Casey, who won his 15th European Tour title in Dubai last week, joins a field that includes world number one and reigning Masters champion Dustin Johnson and US Open winner Bryson DeChambeau at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

Formula 1 is scheduled to stage its first grand prix in Saudi Arabia later this year. The sport follows golf, tennis, horse racing and boxing in heading to the Arab kingdom.

The Saudis have been accused by human rights groups of using sport to bury their human rights record.

But Casey continued: “If you mention children’s rights, there is not a country on the planet that meets every single right of a child, so all you can hope for is that a country is on a path to meeting as many of those as possible.

“There is something called the Convention on the Rights of the Child and this country has signed up to that, and is making progress to ticking off as many of those as possible and that is all I can hope for.

“I felt that if my participation can assist in that progress, and that can make one iota of a difference, then that is something important.”