Archive for March, 2009
March 2, 2009
America’s Mark Wilson took over the lead of the Mayakoba Golf Classic for good with two early birdies Sunday, yet had to fight through some wobbly play down the stretch to earn his second career PGA Tour victory.
The co-leader after the second and third rounds on the 6,923-yard, par-70 El Camaleon course , Wilson shot a 68 to win by two strokes over J.J. Henry.
Henry shot 68 on Sunday and was alone in second at 269. Kevin Streelman, whose 64 was the low round Sunday, and Heath Slocum (67) tied for third at 270.
Bo Van Pelt, who started the day tied with Wilson, shot 76 to finish at 275 and tied for 15th.
Wilson’s bid for a go-ahead birdie on the opening hole rimmed out, but he nailed birdie putts on the next two holes. Two birdies later, he stood on the 13th tee box leading by three strokes. But by the time he tapped in for bogey on 14, his lead over Henry was down to one shot - and the weather was changing, too.
Dark clouds rolled in from the Caribbean Sea and the wind turned stiffer than it’d been all week, flapping collars and rippling shirts sleeves and pants legs.
Henry then bogeyed the 16th and 17th holes, and Wilson bogeyed 16, too. Wilson managed to par 17 about the same time that Henry turned up his palms in frustration after the wind swirled his approach to the 18th green.
Wilson had an easy putt to par the final hole and finish at 13-under 267 for the week. He gave a little fist pump, then tipped his cap to the crowd and shared a fist bump with his caddie.
Wilson’s only previous victory was at the Honda Classic in 2007, and it took winning a four-man playoff. But that wasn’t even the biggest story of that week. Wilson was on the verge of missing the cut when he took a two-stroke penalty because his caddy told another golfer in the group what club Wilson had hit on a hole, violating a rule about not giving advice. Technically it’s Rule 8-1, but it’s come to be known as the Mark Wilson Rule.
Last year, Wilson tied for second at the Valero Texas Open and had a dozen Top 25 finishes in 29 events. But he opened this year with three missed cuts and two also-rans, prompting a visit with putting guru Kevin Weeks last Sunday night.
Weeks immediately saw that Wilson was lining up wrong, throwing his balance out of whack. To fix it, Wilson merely had to put his right foot a few inches wider. He birdied the first hole of this tournament and built confidence from there, freed from the pressure of needing to be perfect tee-to-green to compensate for his putting woes. He was fourth after a first-round 66, then jumped into the lead with a 64. He shot a 69 on Saturday.
Wilson tied for 66th at this tournament the only other time he played it, in 2007.
Also Sunday, the head of tournament sponsor OHL, Juan Miguel Villar Mir, said he’s hopeful that within two years this tournament will get its own weekend on the PGA Tour calendar, instead of being overshadowed by the Accenture Match Play Championship. He said the global economic crunch could open up a spot and his company “would take that week immediately.”
“The PGA has told us we are in line,” Villar Mir said.
At the front?
“We hope so,” he said, adding that the purse would grow from $3.6 million if more of the world’s best players were here. “We would not have a problem putting the money up if we have our own week.”
March 2, 2009
Geoff Ogilvy has been better than anyone in match play over the last four years.
One of these days, he might find out if that includes Tiger Woods.
Even without the world’s No. 1 player around, Ogilvy finished off a remarkable weekend at Dove Mountain on Sunday with a 4-and-3 victory over Paul Casey to win the Accenture Match Play Championship for the second time in four years.
He played 66 holes on the weekend in 25-under par. He never trailed the final 63 holes of this event, mowing down teenage sensation Rory McIlroy and Stewart Cink on Saturday and never giving Casey a chance in the title match.
“The thing I’ll remember is I beat some really good players, and I beat them well,” Ogilvy said. “I played better and better during the week. Every round, I played better, which doesn’t often happen in golf.”
He saved his best against Casey, building a 3-up lead after the morning round, then pouring it on.
“This afternoon, three birdies in the first eight holes and I still lost two holes,” Casey said. “Geoff was exceptional.”
Cink defeated Ross Fisher in the consolation match with a birdie on the 18th hole for a 1-up victory.
A tournament that began with so much buzz over Woods’ return from knee surgery ended with a newfound appreciation for the skill and composure of Ogilvy, who ran his career record to 18-3 in match play.
Woods is 40-12-1 in his professional career.
Ogilvy was asked if he was the best in the world at match play.
“This week I probably was. Last year, I was the 33rd best match-play player in the world,” he said, referring to a first-round loss. “But I have played well in this tournament in the last few years. I’m obviously one of the better match-play players.”
He was quick to note, however, that Woods won three straight U.S. Junior Amateur titles and three straight U.S. Amateurs. He also knew at the start of the week that Woods was in his quarter of the bracket.
“I think I would do OK,” he said. “Hopefully, we can do it one day, for sure.”
Ogilvy won his third World Golf Championship - he will defend his title in two weeks at Doral in the CA Championship - the most of any player besides Woods, who has won 15 of these elite events.
Ogilvy closed out the match with a 6-foot birdie on the 15th hole. He won $1.4 million and moved up to No. 4 in the world ranking with this third victory in his last seven starts. He started the year with a wire-to-wire win at Kapalua, and won late last year at the Australian PGA Championship.
Casey came into the final match having led 79 of the 80 holes he had played in his five previous 18-hole matches.
That amazing mark didn’t last long.
Ogilvy made birdie from 6 feet on the first hole, and when Casey failed to match him from 5 feet, it was the first time the Englishman had trailed all week. From there, it only got worse.
Ogilvy had a putt to win on the next eight holes, converting three of them for a 4-up lead at the turn.
The final match is more marathon than sprint, although it was a bad omen for Casey. No one had come back from more than a two-hole deficit all week, and this was no exception.
The lone highlight for Casey came at the par-4 10th, 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, Ogilvy regained control with a spectacular shot of his own.
The par-5 11th was the most entertaining hole Sunday.
Casey drove into a bunker, so close to the face that he could only advance it far enough to leave him 262 yards to the hole. Despite such a predicament, Ogilvy attempted to reach the green with a 3-wood, only to hook it into the desert. The ball landed in a bed of jumping chollas that had fallen to the ground, and Ogilvy didn’t bother removing it to keep from getting pricked by the needles.
The advantage shifted to Casey, who promptly pulled his 4-iron into such a bad spot left of the green that he had no angle to the pin and did well to pitch it 18 feet long. Ogilvy took his penalty drop, still didn’t reach the green, then chipped in from 60 feet for par. He won the hole when Casey missed his putt.
“Almost a comedy of errors, match-play hole that ended my way,” Ogilvy said.
Casey had one last chance to gain some momentum. Ogilvy’s lead was 3 up when Casey drove to the front of the green on the par-4 15th. Ogilvy had to settle for par, and Casey missed a 6-foot birdie.
Ogilvy, 3 up after lunch, shot 31 on the front nine to put the match away.
It was far different from the last time Ogilvy won this event, in 2006 the last year it was held at La Costa. He had to go extra holes in his first four matches, and 10 times watched his opponent stand over a putt to win the match.
His only close call at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club came in the second round. Shingo Katayama has a 12-foot birdie on the 17th hole to win the match. He missed, and Ogilvy stayed alive by making a 10-footer for par, eventually winning in 19 holes.
The rest of the week, the Australian was at his best.
“I probably gained more as golfer in 2006 because that was my first big tournament. I did a lot of stuff where it was, ‘Do it or you go home,’ and I got all that done,” Ogilvy said. “I get a lot out of this week because I played so well.”
March 1, 2009
Every other golf tournament requires two days to sort out who’s playing the best, another day for players to get into contention, and the excitement building as one player emerges as the winner.
The Accenture Match Play Championship works in reverse.
The opening round on Wednesday is filled with 32 matches and plenty of action. Thursday isn’t too bad, either, with 16 matches. But when the final round arrives on Sunday, only two players have a chance to win.
Not surprisingly, attendance dwindles.
The attendance on Saturday at Dove Mountain was 7,640, nearly half as much as Thursday’s session, but still higher than last year when Tiger Woods won two matches on his way to victory.
Geoff Ogilvy noticed it the first year he won this tournament, beating Davis Love III in the final.
“When we’re alone for breakfast at La Costa, there’s 25 tables in there, and Davis and I are walking one side of the room to the other,” he said. “The locker room attendant is standing over you the whole time because you’re one of only two guys. You pull into the parking lot and there’s two cars. When you’re playing, it seems normal. But it’s all the little stuff.”
There will be four players on the course in the afternoon.
Ogilvy and Paul Casey begin their 36-hole final in the morning, while Stewart Cink and Ross Fisher will play an 18-hole consolation match in the afternoon.
—
DONALD UPDATE: Luke Donald conceded his third-round match to Ernie Els on the 18th tee when he felt soreness in his left wrist, the same one he had surgery on six months earlier.
Donald headed to New York to see a doctor and received a good report.
Andrew Weiland of the Hospital for Special Surgery determined the pain was caused by scar tissue, not the tendon that was repaired. Donald said he should be able to resume practicing after a few days of treatment and anti-inflammatory medication.
He hasn’t ruled out playing next week in the Honda Classic.
“I’m obviously very pleased with Dr. Weiland’s diagnosis, and while I was disappointed to have to withdraw from the Accenture Match Play Championship, I wanted to make sure I was doing what was best for my long-term health,” Donald said.
Donald first injured his wrist at the U.S. Open last year at Torrey Pines. He had surgery two months later, missing the British Open, U.S. PGA Championship and any hopes of making the Ryder Cup team.
Els was 1-up on the 18th hole when Donald withdrew.
—
THE PRACTICE ROUND: Geoff Ogilvy and Paul Casey live about 5 miles (8 kilometers) away from each other in Scottsdale, and they are members at Whisper Rock. That’s where they were playing when both decided to play a practice round at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club on Dove Mountain, a new site for this year’s tournament.
It would seem as simple as one guy picking up the other.
But it wasn’t.
They drove separate cars. They played in 3 1/2 hours in carts, skipping the 11th hole because of a group in front of them.
And then they drove home.
“Both of us drive cars that don’t have many seats in them,” Ogilvy said, referring to his Porsche.
Casey was a little more coy about the car he was driving, even after someone pointed out that Ogilvy mentioned his Porsche.
“He probably got here quicker than I did, then,” Casey replied.
—
BACK IN CINK: Stewart Cink became only the fourth player to reach the semifinals of the Accenture Match Play Championship in consecutive years, joining Tiger Woods, Henrik Stenson and Geoff Ogilvy.
He didn’t get a chance to play in the finals again - Cink lost 8 and 7 to Woods last year - but he was pleased with his results.
Cink started poorly this year. He tied for 24th in the 33-man field at Kapalua, tied for 32nd at the Sony Open, then missed the cut at the FBR Open outside Phoenix. He didn’t play again for three weeks, and that was no accident.
“I worked really hard on my short game the last three weeks,” Cink said. “I was unhappy with my scoring.”
He made one trip to Las Vegas to visit swing coach Butch Harmon, and Cink noticed a big difference in winning his first four matches against Richard Sterne, Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els.
—
DIVOTS: An American failed to reach the final for only the second time in tournament history. The other was in 2007, when Stenson (Sweden) beat Ogilvy (Australia). … The only hole this week when Casey did not have the lead was No. 1 in the second round against Mathew Goggin, when Casey came up short of the green, pitched to 4 feet and made par. … The only hole Ogilvy and Casey did not play at Dove Mountain during their scouting trip two weeks ago was the par-5 11th. Both are only 1 under for the week.
March 1, 2009
Geoff Ogilvy and Paul Casey have even more in common than membership at the same Arizona golf club or the practice round they played two weeks ago on the new course for the Accenture Match Play Championship.
Their 36-hole title match Sunday will feature two players with the best match-play record over the last three years.
Each has won a prestigious Match Play Championship.
And both of them have won rich events that ended a Tiger Woods winning streak.
“An incredible coincidence that we’re the last two guys in the tournament,” Ogilvy said.
Their sterling golf Saturday at Dove Mountain had something to do with that.
Ogilvy made five birdies on the back nine to outlast teenage sensation Rory McIlroy in the quarterfinals, then played his final four holes in 5-under par against Stewart Cink for a 4-and-2 victory to reach the championship match for the third time in four years.
His final opponent will be Casey, who has turned in the most dominating performance in the 11-year history of this tournament.
In an All-England semifinal, Casey defeated Ross Fisher, 2 and 1, and will have a chance to become the first Match Play champion to never trail in a match the entire week. Even more astounding is that Casey has led 79 of the 80 holes he has played.
“The fact I haven’t been down this week, I don’t think it means anything, that you can read anything into that going into tomorrow,” Casey said. “It’s just been a very nice position to be in, simple as that.”
What gets his attention is his opponent, a good friend and fellow member at Whisper Rock in Scottsdale.
“It’s not going to be an easy match,” Casey said. “There are no weaknesses that I can see in Geoff’s game.”
Ogilvy is 17-2 in match play dating to his 2006 victory at the Accenture Match Play Championship, the final year it was held at La Costa. His other World Golf Championship title came last year at Doral, where he ended Woods’ six-tournament winning streak.
“I enjoy the big situations,” Ogilvy said.
Over the last three years, Casey has a 16-3-1 in match play around the world, including his 2006 victory at the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, when he never trailed over the final 71 holes. That ended a five-tournament winning streak by Woods.
The only time they have faced each other in match play - except for games at their home club in Scottsdale, Ariz. - was two years ago, when Ogilvy scored a 5-and-4 victory in the quarterfinals.
The former U.S. Open champion appears to be hitting his stride.
“That’s the best I played all week by a long way today,” Ogilvy said.
He had to be sharp against both his opponents on a warm day in the high desert. McIlroy, the 19-year-old from Northern Ireland, kept on Ogilvy’s heels the whole match. Ogilvy birdied his last three holes and won only one of them in a 2-and-1 victory.
“He’s the real deal,” Ogilvy said of a teenager who will rise to No. 15 in the world next week. “This will be the worst ranking he’s got for the next 10 years. It’s only going to go up, because he’s very impressive.”
Equally difficult was Cink, who became only the fourth player to reach the semifinals in consecutive years.
Cink, who defeated Ernie Els (2 and 1) in the quarterfinals Saturday morning, was tied with Ogilvy when they reached the par-5 13th hole, where Ogilvy played an exquisite pitch to 5 feet for birdie and Cink had a 12-footer to match him. The putt stopped one turn short.
“That was a body blow,” Cink said. “I know it was only one putt, but Geoff got a lot of momentum out of it.”
Indeed, Ogilvy birdied the next hole from 12 feet to go 2 up, and then delivered the signature shot of the day. With the air warm and the turf firm from an afternoon sun, he hit 3-wood off the tee on the 343-yard 15th, and smiled as the ball bounced up the edge of the bunkers, onto the green and stopped 6 feet away for eagle.
“Two pretty satisfying guys to beat,” Ogilvy said. “And I guess the more satisfying part was I played my best golf in the last few holes of each match, which is really nice.”
Cink’s loss meant the United States will not have a finalist for only the second time.
Casey had his easiest time of the week in the quarterfinals against Sean O’Hair, who got food poisoning overnight at the worst time. The American played the first two holes so poorly that Casey never had to attempt his 6-foot birdie putt at No. 1 or an 8-foot birdie on the next hole. O’Hair shot 40 on the front nine, falling hopelessly behind as Casey won, 4 and 3.
Fisher defeated Justin Leonard, 2 and 1, in the quarterfinals, but he fell behind from the start against Casey.
Casey was 1-up through 11 holes when Fisher fell apart.
Fisher took four shots to get down from behind the par-5 13th green, and was lucky to escape with a halve when he twice went into the desert around the 14th green and took double bogey. But Casey wouldn’t let him back in the match, closing him out with a birdie on the 17th for a 2-and-1 victory.
Ogilvy will be trying to win a World Golf Championship for the third time in his career, the most of any player besides Woods, who has won 15 of them. For Casey, it would be his first professional victory in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event.
“I’ve only got one guy to beat to try and win my first PGA Tour event,” Casey said. “That’s a good thing.”‘
March 1, 2009
MARANA, Ariz -Geoff Ogilvy made five birdies on the back nine Sunday to outlast teenage sensation Rory McIlroy in the quarterfinals, then played his final four holes in 5-under par against Stewart Cink for a 4-and-2 victory to reach the final of the Accenture Match Play Championship for the third time in four years.
His opponent will be Paul Casey, who has turned in the most dominating performance in the 11-year history of this tournament.
In an All-England semifinal, Casey defeated Ross Fisher, 2 and 1, and will have a chance to become the first Match Play champion to never trail in any match the entire week. Even more astounding is that Casey has led 81 of the 82 holes he has played.
A tournament that no longer has Tiger Woods instead has the best two golfers in match play over the last three years.
Ogilvy is 17-2 in match play dating to his 2006 victory at the Accenture Match Play Championship, the final year it was held at La Costa. That includes a singles victory in the Presidents Cup.
Casey is 16-3-1 in match play around the world, including his 2006 victory at the HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, when he never trailed over the final 71 holes of that event.
The only time they have faced each other in match play - except for games at their home club in Scottsdale, Ariz. - was two years ago, when Ogilvy scored a 5-and-4 victory in the quarterfinals.
PGA
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Bo Van Pelt shot a 3-under 67 on Saturday to catch Mark Wilson for the lead at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.
Wilson shot a 69, leaving both at 11-under 199 through three rounds of the PGA Tour’s annual stop south of the border.
Van Pelt led after one round and Wilson was the co-leader after the second round. Now the two Midwestern boys who grew up playing against each other as teenagers will be in the final group Sunday, Wilson seeking his second career PGA Tour win and Van Pelt his first.
Briny Baird will join them in the final group Sunday. He shot a 67 to get within a stroke.
J.J. Henry (69) was another stroke behind at the 6,923-yard, par-70 El Camaleon course designed by Greg Norman.
Kevin Na, who opened the day tied with Wilson atop the leaderboard, shot a 72 to join Jarrod Lyle (66) and Chris Riley (69) at 8 under.
LPGA
PATTAYA, Thailand - American Paula Creamer had three consecutive birdies on the back nine for a 5-under 67 and a three-stroke lead heading into the final round of the $1.45 million of the Honda LPGA Thailand.
The world’s No. 3 player delighted the Thai galleries with birdies on holes Nos. 12, 13 and 14 to finish with a three-round total of 11-under 205, putting her ahead of Lorena Ochoa (68) and former Duke star Brittany Lang (71).
Ochoa, the top-ranked Mexican star making her first start of the season, started with a bogey but then had five birdies to get within striking distance.
Lang led after two bogey-free rounds. She bogeyed the fourth, but was still in contention for her first LPGA Tour win.
Australian Karrie Webb (69) was fourth, a shot ahead of Hee Young Park of South Korea, Japan’s Mika Miyazato and American Angela Stanford.
