KIAWAH ISLAND, South Carolina, 14 November 2003 — Although Paul Casey and Justin Rose are an ocean away from their native England, both are feeling completely at home and in confident mood for this week’s WGC-World Cup of Golf team competition.

Casey and Rose, who tied for third at last year’s World Cup in Mexico, enjoy playing together but are expecting a tough battle over the next four days on Kiawah Island’s Ocean Course layout.

“It’s going to be a fantastic challenge this week and, if the wind blows, it’s going to be a brutal golf course,” said Casey of the Pete Dye-designed layout that opened in 1991 and hosted the Ryder Cup that same year.

“It’s one which will bring out the better teams.

“But I think we have a very good chance, and we certainly know what to expect this year. We know it’s not going to be easy but I think both of us have got our games in good enough shape to challenge this week.”

Casey, 26, and Rose, 23, are widely viewed among the favorites in the 24-team field, along with United States combination of US Open champion Jim Furyk and 1997 British Open winner Justin Leonard.

Casey and Rose were members of the victorious Britain and Ireland team in last week’s Ryder Cup-style Seve Trophy against Continental Europe, although they were never paired together by their captain Colin Montgomerie.

Rose, however, believes the key to playing well as a team is by playing well as individuals, especially in the foursomes format.

“I don’t think it’s so much a learning curve about each other’s game, but for yourself because we play so much stroke play,” he said. “When we get into a format like this, it’s strange the first few holes to get into what the tournament needs.

“The key, though, is to have two balls in play and have two putts for birdie.”

For Casey, the World Cup comes at the end of a highly successful 2003 European Tour campaign that featured wins at the ANZ Championship and the final Benson and Hedges International Open.

Rose failed to match his own four-title season of 2002, but still managed to produce six top-10 finishes on his way to 25th place in the final European Order of Merit.

Casey is world-ranked 25th with Rose 46th and their Ireland counterparts this week expect the England duo to become formidable players at future Ryder Cups.

“You have two world-class players there and certainly they’re heading in that direction,” said Paul McGinley, who partners fellow Ryder Cup player Padraig Harrington this week at the venue where they won the 1997 World Cup for Ireland.

“The more team events there are the better it will be for them at the Ryder Cup.

“I certainly benefited playing in the Seve Trophy before the Ryder Cup, from being involved in a team, and I’m sure they’ll do the same.” The World Cup, which was to start yesterday, is the fourth and final World Golf Championships (WGC) event of the year.