Casey’s reward was a cheque for $850,000 (€670,000) and rise in the rankings from 23rd to 13th in the world.

“I’m happy with this week,” Casey said.

“A little bit bitter-sweet, maybe. I would have loved to have won today but came up against a guy who was too good.

“Having said that, this is a golf course that I felt was slightly awkward for my game two weeks ago, and I found a way of getting around it, and for that I’m proud.

“I was tired at the beginning of the week as well and showed that I had the energy to get through these weeks, even after getting off an aeroplane after 20-plus hours of flying (from Perth, Australia) on Monday to get back here. That was pretty good.

“So there’s a lot of things I take out of this, but there are also things I need to work on. So we move forward.”

When Casey went behind to Ogilvy at the opening hole of the final on Sunday after missing a short putt it was the first time he had gone behind in the tournament.

“That was certainly a blow missing that putt this morning,” he said.

“Maybe that set the tone a little bit. I think it set the tone for my putting, certainly, for the first nine holes, and that’s what frustrated me.

“After the match, you have to let it go. As soon as the match is done, you let it go.”

Fellow Englishman Ross Fisher will also look forwards with optimism despite having on Sunday lost to Stewart Cink in the 18-hole match for third place.

Cink won one-up at the final hole but Fisher, who lost to Casey in the semi-finals on Saturday, said he was pleased at having reached the last four with victories over Robert Allenby, Pat Perez, Jim Furyk and Justin Leonard.

“I wasn’t coming here just to compete, I was coming here to compete and win,” said Fisher, who jumped from number 38 in the world to 28 in yesterday’s latest Official World Golf Rankings.

“I felt like I was good enough to compete with these guys. My game was getting stronger and stronger every single match.

“And it’s probably the best I’ve swung the club for a long time.

“I felt like I hit the ball so good this week and I think the worst score I had was probably my first game was two-under. I was about seven-under against Pat, and maybe six or seven against Jim and maybe six or seven against Justin.

“So there was some really good golf out there.

“I can walk away with my head high and very, very pleased, but at the same time slightly disappointed. But to finish fourth and to be disappointed, there’s a lot of positives to take out of the week.”