Cape Town - Paul Casey arrives at this week's WGC-World Match Play in buoyant mood after the Englishman defended a title for the first time in his professional career last week at the Valspar Championship on the PGA Tour.

The 41-year-old is the most recent of three Europeans to have won in consecutive weeks on the other side of the Atlantic - alongside Rory McIlroy and Francesco Molinari - and all three are present at Austin Country Club in a field which features 48 of the world's top 50.

"It feels great to be here after winning, really good. It's obviously been a short week, I'm a little bit tired. I'd like to have a day off to recover, but it’s probably a good thing just to crack on," said Casey.

Casey has a strong record in knockout formats, having won the World Match Play at Wentworth Club back in 2006, while his Ryder Cup record of four wins and five ties out of 12 matches is one not to be sniffed at.

"My match play record is fairly strong. Maybe not a huge amount of success in this particular event, or at Austin Country Club. But I played well finishing off the Ryder Cup last year in Paris. That was a great match against Brooks. I know how to play it. I've got massive respect for my group, but I don't really have a group of death," said Englishman.

Add to that two runner-up finishes and four further top tens in this event, and Casey is a force to be reckoned with in Texas this week.

The 13-time European Tour winner is one of ten Englishmen in the field this week, a tournament record, and three of those are making their debut this week - Tom Lewis, Eddie Pepperell and Matt Wallace.

Pepperell will be full of confidence after a top five at the Players Championship two weeks ago.