Second WGC Title for Ogilvy
Monday 24th March 2008
By Fergus Bisset
Co-Sanctioned
WGC-CA Championship
Doral Resort and Spa, Florida
March 20-23, purse $8,000,000, par 72
Australia's Geoff Ogilvy has won his second World Golf Championship (WGC) title. The 30-year-old outlasted a star-studded field to claim victory in the CA Championship at Doral Resort and Spa in Florida.
A three-hour rain delay yesterday meant the CA Championship required a Monday finish for the first time in its 10-year history.
When play resumed this morning Ogilvy led by two shots with nine holes left to play. He made no mistakes as he parred every hole on the back nine finishing one shot clear of Jim Furyk, Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh.
It was an exceptionally solid week of golf from Ogilvy. He led after an opening 65 and made only one bogey in four rounds. On the 13th hole of the final round it looked certain he'd drop a stroke after duffing a pitch from the side of the green. The Australian then seemingly hit his chip for par far too hard, but it hit the middle of the flag and dropped in. “That was moving.” He said. “That's why you have to hit it on line, the flag gets in the way.”
Ogilvy becomes only the third man to have won multiple WGC titles. The Australian, whose other WGC victory came in the 2006 Accenture Matchplay, joins Darren Clarke with two WGC wins and Tiger Woods who has an incredible 15.
Five shots back with seven holes to play, Woods was unable to extend his winning streak to eight straight tournaments. The World Number One birdied three holes coming in but finished two shots back of Ogilvy. “I had a shot at it but just came up short.” He said. Woods, who was heading straight off to play in the Tavistock Cup, could console himself with the fact his cheque for $285,000 pushed his career earnings to over $80 million. Woods' next official start will be at the Masters.
England's Graeme Storm finished in a tie for sixth on 13 under par. The 30-year-old from Hartlepool was +3 through nine holes of his first round but fought back with a fabulous third round of 63. He still had a slim chance of victory with nine holes left to play but a bogey at the 13th took him out of contention.
1 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 65 67 68 71 271 $1,350,000
T2 Retief Goosen (RSA) 71 69 64 68 272 $530,000
T2 Jim Furyk (USA) 69 71 64 68 272 $530,000
T2 Vijay Singh (Fij) 73 68 63 68 272 $530,000
5 Tiger Woods (USA) 67 66 72 68 273 $285,000
T6 Steve Stricker (USA) 71 68 73 63 275 $198,333
T6 Nick O'Hern (Aus) 67 75 67 66 275 $198,333
T6 Graeme Storm (Eng) 71 70 63 71 275 $198,333
T9 Zach Johnson (USA) 69 72 67 68 276 $147,500
T9 Adam Scott (Aus) 67 68 69 72 276 $147,500
Key Moment: Ogilvy chips in for par on the 13th.
Note: Player in bold signifies Titleist ball usage.
