Ogilvy more than a match for anyone in the world

Published on Monday 2 March 2009 22:10

GEOFF Ogilvy staked his claim as the best in the world at match play when he won the Accenture Match Play Championship for the second time in four years with a 4 and 3 victory over Paul Casey of England.

In a relentless performance at Dove Mountain in Arizona, the 31-year-old Australian did not trail over the final 63 holes of the tournament and did not have a bogey on his card over the last 57 holes.

He took the lead with a six-foot birdie on the first hole of the a 36-hole final, and never gave Casey a chance. Ogilvy had a three-hole lead after the morning round, then shot 31 on the front nine to pull away.

A tournament that began with so much buzz over the return of Tiger Woods ended with a new-found appreciation for the match-play prowess of Ogilvy, whose took his record to 18-3 in this tournament.

“The best thing I can say is I enjoy the format,” Ogilvy said. “Generally, when you enjoy something, you do it well.”

Ogilvy won his third World Golf Championship – he will defend his title in two week at Doral in the CA Championship – the most of any player besides Woods, who has won 15 of these elite events.

The lone highlight for Casey came at the par-4 tenth, when he his 6-iron from 200 yards landed perfectly against the slope and rolled into the cup for an eagle. But on the next hole, the par-5 11th, Ogilvy regained control with a spectacular shot of his own, chipping in from 60 feet for his par, after both players found trouble.

Ogilvy held a three-hole lead at the break, and Casey’s only hope was to cut into the lead quickly, but he missed too many putts to stay in the match.

Casey is up to 13th in the world – victory over Ogilvy would have catapulted him into the top ten for the first time – and having ended two years without a win in Abu Dhabi in January, the Masters in five weeks’ time cannot come quickly enough for him.

“I’m not going to dwell on why I haven’t won a PGA Tour event yet,” said Casey. “I do look at it and I try and learn from it, but my focus is from now on. I feel very good about my game. It’s all right there.”

Casey picked up more than 560,000 for his second place.