Geoff Ogilvy cruise to Accenture Match Play victory again

Monday, March 2, 2009 1:05 pm (Eastern)

By Sal Johnson
edited by Dave Seanor

The questions are is Ogilvy the 2nd best player in the world? How did he win the Accenture and a suggestion to make for a lot more TV drama at the Match Play for NBC in their package with the PGA Tour.

MARANA, Ariz. -- There is no disputing Tiger Woods' status as the best player in the world. But how about No. 2? That position is up for debate, especially considering the recent form of Geoff Ogilvy.

Photo: © Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Geoff Ogilvy after winning the Match Play on the 32nd hole

Following his victory at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, Ogilvy jumped to 4th from 8th in the Official World Golf Ranking. He is pounding on the door that separates him and Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia, who along with Vijay Singh have been rotating in that No. 2 spot since June 2005. Looking at results of the game's premier events in the last 52 weeks, a strong case can be made that Ogilvy is the second best player in the world.

Overshadowed by lamentations about Tiger being gone, speculation about Garcia and Mickelson being poised to overtake Woods, and all of the chatter about talented youngsters like Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Rory McIlroy and Danny Lee, Ogilvy has completely slipped under the radar.

In reality, Garcia and Mickelson have done little to demonstrate that their sights are fixed squarely on Woods' throne. If anyone might cause Tiger to look over his shoulder, it's the fast-moving Ogilvy, who could very well leapfrog Sergio and Phil as soon as the WGC-CA Championship. In the last year Ogilvy has won two WGC events, the Australian PGA and the Mercedes Championship. Rankings aside, that trumps Mickelson's two PGA Tour victories and Garcia's triumphs at The Players and China HSBC.

Garcia likes to complain about the bad breaks that have held him back. Mickelson takes golf analytics to stratospheric heights. But Ogilvy lets the results speak for themselves. Consider this exchange during his press conference Sunday:

Most victories around the world since 2005 Photo credit: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
Wins-Player
27 – Tiger Woods	(*13)
13 – Phil Mickelson	(*3)
10 – Vijay Singh	(*1)
7 – Geoff Ogivly	(*5)
7 – Padraig Harrington	(*4)
7 – Ernie Els	(*0)
6 – Adam Scott	(*1)
6 – Kenny Perry	(*0)
*Victories in majors, WGCs, Players Championship and National Championships since 2005
13 – Tiger Woods
5 – Geoff Ogivly (includes 2008 Australian PGA)
4 – Padraig Harrington (includes 2007 Irish Open)
3 – Phil Mickelson

Question: "Your stock has risen the last four years. Where do you see yourself in the pecking order?"

Ogilvy: "I don't know. That's not really for me to decide, it's for you guys to decide where I sit in the pecking order."

Question: "Hasn't changed then?"

Ogilvy: "I think I'm a pretty decent player. I played in some pretty good tournaments."

Reply: "We were hoping you would go more (unfiltered Ian) Poulter on us."

Not likely. Ogilvy never makes a big deal about who is in front of him and what it will take to catch and beat him. Geoff keeps that to himself, and who can argue with the results.

Check out the accompanying chart (to the right). Since 2005, Ogilvy has made great strides not only in the win column, but in winning the most elite events in golf. It can be argued that Harrington's three major victories trump Ogilvy's one major and three WGC titles, but they're very close. Plus, there's the what-have-you-done-lately factor. Harrington posted his British Open and PGA Championship victories in 2007 and last summer; Ogilvy has won the Australian PGA, the Mercedes and the WGC Match Play in the last three months.

Not only has Ogilvy's play been exceptional of late, but his match play record – or his mano-a-mano record – is incredible. His Accenture record is 17-2, which is the highest winning percentage (88.23 percent) of any player who has won more than 10 matches in the event's history. Next is Woods (32-7, 82.05 percent), followed by David Toms (23-8, 74.2 percent). Ogilvy also is 1-0 in President Cup singles and has a 1-0 playoff record.

In his stroke play wins, Ogilvy has shown a knack for getting the lead and not letting it slip away. In both the WGC-CA and the Mercedes, he led after every round and held on for victories. Every time he has led a tournament after the second and third rounds, he has won.

Ogilvy grew up in Australia, but his ascension to the elite ranks of pro golf took root in Tucson. At the 2001 Chrysler Classic of Tucson, Ogilvy finished T3 in his first PGA Tour start on American soil. Hard to believe when you watch him these days, but Ogilvy had the reputation Down Under as a hothead. He moved to the States after making it through Q-School in 2000 and continued to focus on controlling his temper. The effort paid its first dividend four years ago when Ogilvy won the 2005 Chrysler Classic of Tucson, beating Mark Calcavecchia and Kevin Na in a playoff. A year later, he made his Accenture debut as the 13th seed in his bracket and offered a hint of things to come by winning his first four matches in 19, 21,21 and 19 holes en route to the final against Davis Love III, which he won 3 and 2. Three months later he won the U.S. Open at Winged Foot.

Last year Ogilvy lost to Justin Leonard in the first round of the Accenture. That occurred shortly after the birth of his second child, which no doubt was a distraction. By the time Doral rolled around, Geoff and his wife Juli had hired a traveling nanny and Ogilvy was able to concentrate on his game again. As they say, the rest is history – with many more chapters likely to be written.

How Ogilvy won the Match Play last week

Geoff Ogilvy vs. Paul Casey in the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship had all the makings of the best final in the event's history. Both players were in top form, Casey having won at the European Tour's Abu Dhabi event last month and Ogilvy with victories at the Australian PGA in December and the Mercedes Championship in January.

Photo: © Stuart Franklin/Getty Images Geoff Ogilvy wins the Accenture Match Play for a second time.

Unfortunately, Casey got off to a lousy start, missing a couple of short putts and shooting a front-nine 37 to Ogilvy's 33, leaving him 4-down at the turn in the morning. Over the next 24 holes they were pretty even, trading birdies for birdies. Casey was 5 under during that stretch.

The turning point in the match was Ogilvy's chip-in for key for par at the 11th hole. Casey was on a high after holing his second shot at No. 10 and winning the hole with eagle. It appeared certain he would win No. 11 and cut the deficit to 2-down after Ogilvy yanked his second shot at the par 5 into the desert and had to declare an unplayable lie. But the golf gods would have none of that – Casey missed the green with his third shot and the Aussie chipped in from 54 feet to save par and win the hole after Casey missed his 12-foot attempt for par.

The players' stats were close all the way around, with the big edge going to Ogilvy with six fewer putts. Ogilvy putted great all week. Despite not making a single putt over 15 feet 3 inches, he had 64 one putts for the week compared to 46 for Casey. Ogilvy only one three-putt; Casey had three. Ogilvy made 97 of 102 putts from 10 feet or closer (including concessions); Casey made 96 of 110 from that range.

Ogilvy demonstrated a special inner peace. He made nearly all of his crucial putts and was never rattled when Casey hit it inside of him. Even if Tiger Woods would have been Ogilvy's opponent, the Aussie still would have won.

As it turns out, Ogilvy's most important match was Round 2 against Shingo Katayama. Ogilvy was 2 down with three holes to play, then he won the 16th but faced a tough 15-footer at 17 for a par, with Katayama at close range for his par. Had Ogilvy missed, it was all over. But he knocked it in, then won the 18th to send the match into extra holes.

Final Match hole stat comparison
Match	Holes	Fairways Hit	Greens Hit	Putts	Birdies/Eagles	Holes Won	Holes Lost
Geoff Ogilvy	29	21 of 26	24 of 33	45	10/1	6	3
Paul Casey	29	18 of 26	25 of 33	51	9/1	6	10

Sunday morning final Scorecard
Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	5	4	4	5	3	5	4	4	3	4	4
	1up	1up	1up	1up	1up	2up	2up	3up	4up	3up	4up	4up	3up	3up	3up	4up	4up	3up
Ogilvy	3	5	3	4	4	3	4	4	3	3	5	3	5	4	4	2	3	4
Casey	4	5	3	4	4	4	4	5	4	2	6	3	4	4	4	3	3	3

Sunday afternoon final Scorecard
Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
Par	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	5	4	4	5	3	5	4	4	3	4	4
	4up	3up	3up	3up	3up	3up	4up	5up	6up	6up	5up	5up	4up	4up	4up
Ogilvy	3	5	3	3	4	3	3	3	4	4	-	3	5	4	3
Casey	4	4	3	3	4	3	4	4	5	4	C	3	4	4	3

Here are some odds and ends of Ogilvy and Casey's week at the match play:

Ogilvy was 12-under in the 33-hole championship match. He was conceded a par at the 29th hole, making him bogey-free for the day.

Ogilvy won 10 holes against Casey, three of them with pars.

Paul Casey tidbit: His runner-up finish at the Accenture was his career-best on the PGA Tour. His previous best was T4 at the 2006 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Casey has seven top-10 finishes at World Golf Championship events.

Finalists' stats for the week Photo credit: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
	Ogilvy	Casey
Fairways hit	64 of 94 (68.1%)	63 of 88 (71.6%)
Greens hit	77 of 121 (63.64%)	77 of 113 (68.14%)
Scrambling	40 of 44 (90.9%)	25 of 36 (69.4%)
Sand Saves	8 of 12 (66.7%)	4 of 9 (44.4%)
One putts	64	46
3 putts	1	3
Putts inside 10 feet	97 of 102	96 of 110
The longest putt Ogilvy made all week was 15 feet, 3 inches.

Ogilvy stats for the week

Extended his Accenture record to 17-2, the highest winning percentage (88.23 percent) of any player who has won at least 10 matches in the event's history. Second is Tiger Woods (32-7, 82.05 percent), followed by David Toms (23-8, 74.2 percent).

Ogilvy played 121 holes in six matches (compared to Casey's 113). He won 38 holes, lost 24 and halved 59.

Ogilvy (2006, 2009) joins Tiger Woods (2003, 2004, 2008) as the only players to win the Accenture Match Play Championship multiple times. Ogilvy (3), Woods (15), and Darren Clarke (2) are the only players to own multiple World Golf Championship titles. Ogilvy also won the 2008 World Golf Championships-CA Championship, where he is slated to defend his title at Doral in two weeks.

Ogilvy leads the FedEx Cup, the PGA Tour money list and the European Tour's Race to Dubai.

Could the PGA Tour change things to make this event more attractive for NBC?

The problem with any match play event is how easily it can become anticlimactic. Even stellar play like Geoff Ogilvy's doesn't make for great theater. What's ironic about the Accenture is that Golf Channel, which carried the first four rounds, wound up with the most drama. NBC, the network of record, was left with the crumbs.

After NBC's Sunday telecast, I ran into an exhausted NBC producer Tommy Roy. "Tough day for television," I said, which he affirmed and hastily noted how much effort went into production in order to make the show as interesting as possible. When NBC signed on at 2 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, Ogilvy was 4-up at the halfway point and his victory was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Roy and his crew did their best to keep the audience engaged, but even the best production values are no substitute for a good match. The viewer's remote will always win out.

At least Roy can take some consolation that his team's preparation and efforts made Golf Channel's shows a big success. (Considering the state of the PGA Tour these days, all the TV partners should be rooting for each other.) Later that night, while savoring a great bone-in ribeye at Fleming's Steak House, I realized just how bass-ackwards the PGA Tour has this event in terms of TV coverage for their network partner NBC.

So here's a radical suggestion: Double the size of the field to the top 128 players and start the event on a weekend, on network TV, with half the first-round matches Saturday and the other 32 matches Sunday. Saturday's winners would play Monday and the winners from Sunday would play Tuesday in the round of 32, televised on Golf Channel. The round of 16 would be Wednesday, the quarterfinals Thursday, and the semifinals Friday – all on Golf Channel. Then NBC shows the 36-hole final on Saturday.

Photo: © Chris Condon/PGA Tour Tommy Roy and the rest of the NBC crew had a great week, maybe some slick changes to the format by the PGA Tour could help their NBC TV partners?

That way, NBC at least gets an opening weekend full of compelling golf (meaning marquee players and upsets), and if things work out it also might end up with a good championship match. If the Tour was really creative, it would also take the first- and second-round losers and stage a 72-hole stroke play tournament that would run opposite the main event and be televised by Golf Channel over the weekend.

At least Roy can take some consolation that his team's preparation and efforts made Golf Channel's shows a big success. (Considering the state of the PGA Tour these days, all the TV partners should be rooting for each other.) Later that night, while savoring a great bone-in ribeye at Fleming's Steak House, I realizedjust how bass-ackwards the PGA Tour has this event in terms of TV coverage.

So here's a radical suggestion: Double the size of the field to the top 128 players and start the event on a weekend, on network TV, with half the first-round matches Saturday and the other 32 matches Sunday. Saturday's winners would play Monday and the winners from Sunday would play Tuesday in the round of 32, televised on Golf Channel. The round of 16 would be Wednesday, the quarterfinals Thursday, and the semifinals Friday – all on Golf Channel. Then NBC shows the 36-hole final on Saturday.

That way, NBC at least gets an opening weekend full of compelling golf (meaning marquee players and upsets), and if things work out it also might end up with a good championship match. If the Tour was really creative (you listening Ponte Vedra & Accenture), it would also take the first-, second - and third -round losers and stage a 72-hole stroke play tournament that would run opposite the main event and be televised by Golf Channel & NBC between Thursday and Sunday.

5 comments
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Golfersal --- Mar 4th, 2009 02:32 am

I have to say that Padraig Harrington hasn't shown us much. Yes he won three majors in a span of 13 months, but that is it. He has fallen down on his face the rest of the time. Very hard to say that he isn't a great player but when he misses cuts and loses in the first round of match play you have to wonder. Ogilvy always seems consistent

golfcat --- Mar 3rd, 2009 11:48 am

IMO, Ogilvy is a much better player than Harrington. He does not have the big valleys like Harrington. Right now Harrington still has the hang over from his Tigerless PGA victory. He does not look like he can even play. IMO, Ogilvy is a better striker of the ball than Harrington and a better putter.

JK --- Mar 3rd, 2009 10:39 am

What about Harrington? He has more majors than Ogilvy and you guys did not even make a passing mention of him.

GeorgeM --- Mar 2nd, 2009 07:40 pm

Why stop at 128? Why not start with 240 in a 72 hole stroke play event? Cut to top 32 for match play in a double elimination format. This approach would: Keep rusty players out of match play, and Prevent one "odd" round from eliminating the "star power."

TNOBLES --- Mar 2nd, 2009 04:01 pm

Sal, I agree that Ogilvy is one of the best players in golf. Yet how can you rank him ahead of Harrington who has won three majors in two years? Let him win a couple of more majors and then let the hyperbole begin. Until then I'll still take even Anthony Kim over him!