Golf: Paul Casey in pole position to end his eight-year American drought and claim cheque for £8.5m

Paul Casey is in tantalising position to end his eight-year American drought here at the Tour Championship on Sunday and do so by unleashing a Tsunami of greenback. If he can hold on to his two-shot lead, and if the results of the other FedEx Cup protagonists continue to go his way, then he will be leaving Georgia with a cheque for £8.5m.

It would be the biggest payday in the history of English golf and would be the perfect present with which to arrive home in Arizona to meet baby Astaria, who was born last week.

No doubt, Casey’s second PGA Tour win in 220 starts and first title anywhere since the Dutch Open in 2014, would constitute the biggest win of his career – both in terms of prestige and, of course money – and would increase the urgency on Thomas Bjorn, Europe’s Ryder Cup captain, to persuade the 40-year-old to end his European Tour exile and sign up to be eligible for next year’s match in Paris.

The former world No 3 would be an official member of the golfing elite again, after keeping the FedEx Cup in the British Isles following Rory McIlroy’s heroics 12 months ago.

However, Casey, Bjorn and everyone else should not dare get ahead of themselves as the golfer’s own recent history and the events of the third round here at East Lake highlight that nothing is certain.

Casey has finished in the top-five 15 times on the PGA Tour in the last three seasons, the most for anyone who has won in this period.  Critics have cruelly coined him “Mr Thursday” for his propensity to be up there before falling away on a Sunday, although they seem to forget he has won 17 times around the world. What he would give for his final round here to finish fourth last year.

"That was a 64 and I'd definitely take that tomorrow," Casey said. "Regardless of the FedEx Cup and the $10m and all that, I want the win, I want my name on the trophy here at East Lake.

"Let’s hope it’s an omen, but I won at the KLM Open a week after Lex [his three-year-old son] was bor. This tournament is the most important thing here tomorrow, there are more important things away from the course and I cant wait to get back and hold my daughter."

There was an embarrassing incident immediately after his five-under round when Butch Harmon, the celebrated coach, was waxing lyrical into a TV microphone about how Casey struggles on a Sunday. He was directly behind Harmon as he said it. But this brilliant 65 was a reminder of Casey’s talents as he outscored Justin Thomas, his playing partner and the hottest golfer in the world by five shots. Validation would not come anymore lucrative.

The joint-overnight leader went from sharing the advantage to four shots ahead with a staggering 45-minute, three-hole burst. On the fifth he holed a 12-footer, on the par-five sixth, he hit his second from 235 yards to 10 feet for an eagle and then on the seventh he span in a wedge to 18 inches.

Having finished in the top five here in each of his three previous appearances, Casey makes no secret of his fondness for Bobby Jones’s old playground and on 14-under he was, apparently back in his element.

Except two sloppy bogeys later and his cushion had been whipped from under him even quicker than it had appeared, as Kevin Kisner chipped in on the 14^th to join Casey on 10-under.

The front-runner from Cheltenham had been caught but he recovered his stride nicely to birdie the par-three 11^th from 15 feet to resume control. And an outrageous 40-footer on the 17^th saw him lengthen out again, with Kisner and fellow and Xander Schauffele the nearest pursuers, with three shots further back to Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed on seven-under.

Casey would be wise to resist doing so, but there are also the FedEx standings to keep a close eye on to see who collects the $10m bonus. If Casey does prevail then he would need Spieth to finish fifth or worse, Thomas to finish in a three-way tie for third or worse, Dustin Johnson to  finish in a three-way tie for second or worse and Marc Leishman to finish tied second or worse.

At the moment, they are all exactly where Casey needs them - in tied 11^th, tied fourth, tied 11^th and 22nd respectively – but things can change in a few heartbeats. Especially when so much rests on it.