Ogilvy spreads his magic

AUSTRALIA’S GEOFF Ogilvy sprinkled a little more magic on Rory McIlroy’s WGC-Accenture Matchplay Championship performance when he defeated England’s Paul Casey by 4 and 3 in the 36-hole final at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.

Just over 24 hours after he ousted McIlroy with an immaculate quarter-final performance, the 31-year-old Melbourne native proved he is the king of matchplay when he claimed the title for the second time in four years in a one sided final.

Not only did he earn €1.11 million to top the Race to Dubai standings, he also leap-frogged Pádraig Harrington to go fourth in the world rankings and moved to second in the all-time list of WGC winners, behind Tiger Woods with three victories following his CA Championship win at Doral last season. “The whole weekend I played fantastic,” Ogilvy said. “I played two unbelievable players yesterday in Rory (and Stewart Cink). Rory is going to be one of the best players in the world for a very long time and everyone needs to remember his name. He is incredible for 19.

“Paul today is a great competitor head to head,” he said.

The 31-year-old beat Davis Love to win the title on his debut four years ago. And while he lost to Henrik Stenson in the 2007 final and to Justin Leonard in the first round last year, he has an unparalleled 89 per cent strike rate in the quirkiest WGC event with 17 wins and just two defeats from 19 matches.

Playing under a searing sun in the Sonoran Desert northwest of Tucson, Casey discovered that the 2006 US Open champion is an implacable opponent when it comes to matchplay.

Some shaky short putting by Casey gifted him the first and sixth holes of a final that drew sparse crowds. But it seemed that no matter what the Cheltenham native threw at the Australian, it was never going to be quite enough. Ogilvy birdied the eight and ninth to go four up and only lost the 10th when Casey holed a six-iron from 204-yards for an eagle two.

Retribution was swift, however, and at the par-five 11th, Ogilvy looked turned what looked like a certain loss into a win by chipping in for a winning par five after taking a penalty drop in the desert.

The Englishman rallied to halve the 17th in birdie and then reduce the deficit to three holes at lunch with a birdie at the 18th as they shot approximate rounds of 66 and 69.

But Ogilvy was simply too good for him in the afternoon round and extended his advantage to six-up with nine to play when with birdies at the first, fourth and seventh and an eagle three at the eighth.

Casey prolonged his agony by winning the 11th and 13th to reduce the deficit to three holes, it all ended at the driveable 15th, where Ogilvy holed a six footer for a winning birdie three.

In the consolation match, American Ryder Cup player Stewart Cink beat England’s Ross Fisher 1 up. Cink earned €473,000 with Fisher claiming €386,000. Rory McIlroy pocketed €213,700 for his quarterfinal defeat.