Ogilvy in command
Geoff Ogilvy took a firm grip on the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship final today with a healthy lead over Paul Casey.
Ogilvy, the 2006 champion and 2007 runner-up, was three up after 18 holes of the 36-hole final at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.
“It was a bit of shaky start for me,” Casey admitted. “Geoff has played very, very solid golf and hasn’t given anything away.”
That shaky start saw Casey miss from four feet for birdie at the first after Ogilvy had already holed from six feet, the first time at any point this week the Englishman had trailed in a match.
Casey, chasing a first PGA Tour win of his career, missed another short putt on the severely undulating greens, this time at the sixth to go two down.
Ogilvy increased the pressure by winning the eighth and ninth as well to go four up before the three-time Ryder Cup player halted the Australian’s momentum in spectacular fashion, holing out at the par-four 10th hole with his second shot from 204 yards for an eagle.
The par-five 11th hole saw a remarkable chain of events with Casey having to lay up following an errant tee shot into a fairway bunker.
Ogilvy was in trouble after pulling his second shot into the desert and the jaws of a cactus, but after a penalty drop hit his fourth shot just short of the green.
Casey still looked favourite but could only look on as Ogilvy chipped in for an unlikely par to restore his four-hole lead, Casey’s par putt from 15 feet shaving the edge of the hole.
The 2006 US Open champion did see his lead cut at the par-five 13th when Casey holed his first birdie putt of the match, but Ogilvy got the upper hand at the par-three 16th.
Casey missed a long-range birdie attempt but Ogilvy made no mistake from 14ft to go four up once more.
The Australian continued to play aggressively, hitting his approach to the 17th to 11 feet but Casey responded superbly, his approach rolling to within five feet of the hole.
Casey was denied an opportunity to win the hole when Ogilvy sank his putt, leaving the Englishman his putt to halve the hole and move on to the 18th still four down.
Casey gave himself a boost heading into the lunch break when he won the 18th with a birdie three from 11 feet.
Stewart Cink and Oliver Fisher were set to contest an 18-hole match for third place before the finalists began their second round in search of the first prize of USD1.4million.
