Ogilvy holds his nerve in WGC thriller
IN: News | European PGA | CA Championship (2008) | Round Four | by Bruce Young | 25 Mar 2008
Australian Geoff Ogilvy struck a blow for the common golfer – if indeed it is possible to describe a US Open and now two times World Golf Championship champion as a common golfer – when he led from his opening round at the WGC CA Championship to defeat the game’s best including Tiger Woods who had been developing the air of invincibility.
Ogilvy won by a narrow one shot over Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh and by two over Woods after returning to complete the final six holes on Monday morning.
Ogilvy led this event over five long days as weather then darkness issues forced the event into a fifth day, with many of the field being required to recommence their final round at 8.30am. At that point Ogilvy had the lead by two over Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh with Woods some five shots back but there were still many who felt that Woods would not let his seven tournament winning streak end without a fight.
Given the quality of players lined up behind him Ogilvy felt he needed to move forward on the final day despite his lead.
“There are a lot of birdies on this golf course,” said Ogilvy after play was suspended on Sunday evening. “I mean if I go out and play a great back nine and have 3- or 4-under on the back nine, it’s going to be pretty hard for anyone to catch that. But, saying that, someone could go out and have 6-under on the back nine. It’s that kind of golf course where there are a lot of birdies.”
“When the scores are 16, 17 under par as they are, it’s obviously yielding some scores. I’m sure it’s in my control if I go out and have three or four birdies early tomorrow. I mean, it might discourage people, but if I go out and par three or four holes in a row, then maybe they’re going to catch me because there are so many birdies out there. I guess it’s in my control, but in some respects it’s not.”
Ogilvy faced a shot of 280 yards to the green at the 10th hole on his return but even allowing for lift clean and place that was in place, there was no consideration of attacking the green. He hit an iron 66 yards short and then pitched to 15 feet and made par. His playing partner Singh however immediately closed the margin to just one when he pitched to 6 feet and converted to move to 16 under. That was the closest any of his chasers would get to Ogilvy but the threat of a hiccup by the leader or a run of birdies by one of those players behind was ever present.
Woods moved a little closer when he birdied his first hole of the day from 18 feet despite an ordinary approach from short range and he was within four.
The most telling blow of the day and perhaps of the tournament generally would come at the lengthy par three 13th. Ogilvy was one ahead at the time and after Singh had missed the green left, Ogilvy hit a two iron and even when it was in the air he was concerned he had too much club for the type of shot he had hit. It was not cutting back and thundered into the small crowd gathered left of the green at that time.
“It was quite a hard wind right to left. All three of us missed the green to the left. You can’t feel the wind on the tee there because you’ve got the big buildings and the trees but you know it’s there, and it’s really hard to hang a ball out to the right when you can’t feel wind. It’s one of those awkward ones.
Ogilvy’s ball had come to rest against the television cables but when they were removed he was left with a tricky lie from which the leader was unsure as to how it would come out. His first attempt came up short of the green and with Singh looking a good chance to save par there was a real chance of a two shot swing. Singh pitched to 7 feet and then Ogilvy chipped his ball into the hole, slam dunking off the flag.
“Yeah, that’s the one that stands out. The rest of it was kind of boring, two-putting from 30 feet. But that one was anything but boring. That was a horrible shot, funny chip shot. I had to move cables, and the cables leave a dent, so there’s no grass behind the ball, but an inch further back - you never practice that – it’s a weird kind of a lie. It would be easier if it was just grass everywhere because you know you have to swing hard at it. This one looked like I could hit the ball first or not.”
“I obviously didn’t read the lie very well the first chip, and then the second chip was travelling. I guess that’s why you want to hit it straight (laughter),” said Oglivy referring to the fact that the chip was headed perhaps 15 feet past the hole.
Almost inevitably, Singh missed his par saving putt and instead of gaining ground he had lost a shot and Ogilvy led by two over Singh and Goosen, the latter of whom was emerging as a threat when he birdied the 14th.
Singh made a mess of the par four 14th when his approach and then his pitch were short and when he missed his par save from 12 feet he had fallen to 14 under and appeared to have lost his chance. On reflection it would prove a costly and very soft bogey.
Woods was mounting a charge that kept alive his hopes of an improbable victory. After his opening birdie at the 12th he added another at the 15th when he all but holed his tee shot but missed an opportunity at the short par four 16th before adding another birdie at the 17th when he pitched to four feet and converted. Woods was then within two of Ogilvy who was on the 15th and if the defending champion could birdie the last he might set a target. He hit a great tee shot at the last but seemed a little unsure of the shot he was trying to hit with his approach, mis-hit it a little and came up 40 feet short. He made par but it was not enough to challenge those on the golf course.
Singh bounced back with birdies at the 16th and 17th and when he Ogilvy and Graeme Storm headed to the 18th tee Ogilvy still had the lead he had created with an opening round of 65 but there was still work to do especially given the dangers of the last at Doral. Furyk had earlier missed a chance to join the lead when he missed the fairway right at the last but still salvaged a very good par. He was one behind Ogilvy along with Singh and Goosen after Goosen had narrowly missed one last chance himself at the 72nd hole.
Ogilvy, who had not hit a lot of fairways for much of the week, hit a superb drive when he most needed it, setting up an 8 iron short iron approach which he hit 35 feet right of the hole. Singh had missed the green long and left and when Ogilvy’s approach putt finish a foot from the hole, Singh had to hole his chip to force a playoff. He did not and Ogilvy had won his second World Golf Championship title.
“Yeah, this is pretty nice, obviously,” said Ogilvy later. “These are some of the biggest tournaments in the world, these WGCs. They’re the best fields we play in probably, outside of THE PLAYERS Championship and maybe a couple of the majors. They’re incredible fields. Everybody is here.”
“The leaderboard was obviously the leaderboard that you like to see. It’s a pretty stellar looking leaderboard over those last nine holes, so satisfying beating those players and pretty satisfying winning a big one.”
Oglivy has moved to 5th on the money list but this effort along with improved results in his past two events suggests he is on track for a return to Augusta National in two weeks where he has recorded two solid finishes in two starts.
Nick O’Hern repeated his 6th place finish of last year when he put together a big finish over the final two rounds. Adam Scott, whose putter had finally been his friend earlier in the tournament, missed a few chances over the final two rounds to finish in a share of 9th, Aaron Baddeley was 15th, Robert Allenby was 20th, Stuart Appleby 34th, Brendan Jones 40th after weekend rounds of 66 and 67, Richard Green 51st, Paul Sheehan 61st and Craig Parry 73rd.
The PGA Tour now moves to New Orleans for this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
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