ESPN Golf

MUNICH, Germany -- England's Paul Casey fired back at Vijay Singh after the former top-ranked player in the world criticized the rising crop of British players for their work ethic.

Singh earlier this month said too many British players were prepared to stay in a comfort zone. But Casey, winner of eight European Tour titles and a member of two winning Ryder Cup teams, said he prepares as much for an event as Tiger Woods, who last week triumphed in a playoff at the U.S. Open for his 14th major championship.

"You rarely see Tiger after about 2 o'clock in the afternoon at a tournament," Casey said at the BMW International Open in Munich on Friday. "He plays his practice rounds very, very early, hits some balls, hits some putts and gets out of there, conserving his energy. That's the way I do it and I think I work hard enough.

"And I would invite Vijay along to do exactly what I do on weeks off and see how he goes, invite him to the gym with me, for instance."

Singh, winner of three majors, said the new wave of British players was content to fail at tournaments knowing another well-paid event would be just around the corner. He said they had not been successful at majors because they failed to analyze their own game and put in the effort to make improvements.

"Lots of them start out with the right intentions, and the opportunities are there for them to become great," Singh said last week. "But once they're on tour, though, they find themselves having a fine time and wondering, 'Why should I bother to work hard?' Their way of life is so comfortable that it doesn't matter if they have a bad tournament. The disappointment is not as big any more. There's another event the following week and they just move on."

Casey, who fired a second-round 68 at the BMW International, said in response: "My coach's mantra has always been, you prepare for events. You put all the work in when you're in your off-weeks, behind the scenes, stuff like that, stuff nobody sees. Then when you turn up to an event, you're ready. That's the way I do it and that's the way Tiger does it.

"On weeks off I'm in the gym by seven, at the golf course by 10 until 4 o'clock and I ride on my bike in the evenings. Then there's working on the mental side of things. It's non-stop.

"I think the British lads work incredibly hard and I speak for Justin Rose, Luke Donald and Ian Poulter. I grew up with Luke and Ian, so I know what they are putting in. With a bit of luck it will pay off with results."

Information from Reuters was used in this report.