Day and Ogilvy keep Aussie hopes alive
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2011 Accenture Match Play Championship | Round Two | 25 Feb 2011
Jason Day and Geoff Ogilvy have kept Australian hopes alive at the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, both winning their second round matches today and setting up third round encounters.
Day, who comfortably defeated one of the pre tournament favourites, Paul Casey, in round two, will now take on J.B Holmes tomorrow while Ogilvy, after winning the final hole in his 1up victory over Thomas Bjorn, will face Bubba Watson.
Day was five under par when he finished his match against Casey. He went ahead for the first and last time at the 4th and never looked back, making the turn three up and going on to win 4&2 against the man who had been runner-up in each of the past two years.
After his round Day discussed some of the mind games going on during the match and the decision to not give Casey a putt of less than 2 feet at the 8th. “He looked really angry at me, too. It was only about a foot and a half.
So he missed a — obviously I three-putted that hole. He had a four foot, four or five foot putt and he missed it low side. And it’s not that I — he was going to miss. I knew he was going to hole it. But it’s not about that hole – it’s about the future holes coming on. So if I can make him a little angry, if I can, you know, get him out of his game plan and force him to make silly decisions out there, you know, that’s obviously part of the mind games that you play.
“Obviously match play is a different format to stroke play. At the end of the day, you’re all mates and stuff. But when you’re playing against the guy across from you, you want to try to beat him as quick as possible.” Day won that hole to go 3 up.
Ogilvy’s match was a different proposition altogether. He faced Tiger Woods’ round one conqueror Thomas Bjorn in round two and although he was never behind, Ogilvy was forced to pull out all stops to win at the final hole. It only took a par to do so but it was a relieved Ogilvy who snuck through.
Ogilvy is a two time winner of the event and once runner-up and he has had a disrupted start to his 2011 season he is on track for further success in this event.
With the exit of Lee Westwood at the hands of Nick Watney, the trouncing of Phil Mickelson courtesy of Rickie Fowlers’ brilliance and Tiger Woods’ early departure yesterday, there remains only one of the leading players from each group. That player is Martin Kaymer who only just snuck through at the second extra hole against Justin Rose.
Gone too are the defending champion and the runner-up from last year. Only two players from the world’s top ten, Graeme McDowell and Luke Donald, remain in a tournament that is now wide open.
