Aussies Scott and Ogilvy eager to take on Woods Saturday at Doral

By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents

DORAL, Fla. -- The way Geoff Ogilvy sees it, he's got the ideal group to play with on Saturday during the third round of the World Golf Championships-CA Championship.

After a sluggish start to 2008, Geoff Ogilvy is playing well. (Cannon/WireImage)

And not just because Ogilvy's good friend Adam Scott, the one with the matinee idol good looks, draws more than his share of fans of the female persuasion, either.

No, the two Aussies find themselves in the final group on Saturday with none other than Tiger Woods, the game's No. 1 player who is looking for his sixth straight PGA TOUR win and fourth consecutive win on Doral's Blue Monster. What more do you need to get the competitive juices flowing?

"Maybe we can put some Aussie voodoo or something on him," Ogilvy said with a smile.

Ogilvy actually owns the lead at 12 under after shooting a 67 on Friday while Woods is one stroke back after the day's best of 66. A pair of bogeys on his last two holes left Scott at 9 under, and no one else is closer than three strokes to him.

"If you asked me a group to play in on Saturday in a three ball at any golf tournament, it would be pretty close to the group I'd choose," Ogilvy said. "It'll be fun."

Someone mentioned that the bookies across the pond have Woods at 1-to-3 to win what would be his sixth CA Championship while Ogilvy is 3-to-1 and Scott at 8-to-1. Ogilvy, who counts the 2006 U.S. Open among his three TOUR wins, was hardly offended.

"They've been getting burned, the bookies," he said, chuckling. "I read somewhere this week everyone kept loading up on Tiger and they keep taking the bets and they keep losing.

"That's reality. He's won these last however-many golf tournaments. He hasn't lost too many when in contention after two rounds. He hasn't lost too many at Doral. There's a lot of things in his favor. It'll be pretty brave of a bookie to have any larger odds than that. That's almost conservative for them, you know?"

Ogilvy is playing extremely well right now, though, after a somewhat sluggish start to the season. He took about five weeks off and played Mr. Mom as he and his wife, Juli, welcomed their second child, and first son, into the world.

The 30-year-old missed his first three cuts, but has made steady progress in the weeks since. He lost in the first round of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, a tournament he won in 2006 and in which he advanced to the finals in 2007, but then posted ties for 10th and 14th in his next two starts.

Ogilvy, who tied for third at the CA Championship a year ago, hasn't made a bogey in the first two rounds this week. A red-hot putter helped bridge the gap on a day when Ogilvy's driver found just three fairways in Friday's more difficult wind.

"I didn't hit the ball probably quite as well as I did yesterday," Ogilvy, who took just 23 putts, said. "Yesterday was the easier wind direction. Trickier off the tee, I think. I hardly hit a fairway. I was never really in a bad spot, but I was always just off the fairway. Felt like I played from the rough all day.

"I got up and down really well. I couldn't have had too many putts. I made some good birdie putts and got up and down every time I missed the green, so it was pretty good, really."

Adam Scott was frustrated by two closing bogeys. (Cannon/WireImage)

Scott, on the other hand, was frustrated by those two closing bogeys that blunted his momentum after he opened his second round with four birdies in his first five holes. He was 5 under and tied with Woods when his troubles began -- Scott had to hit a shot left-handed after an errant drive at the 17th and found the lake off the tee at the 18th.

"I had the wind blowing off the left for both of them into the wind, and I aimed down the left side and tried to just ride it up the wind but pulled them a little, both of them, and both got in pretty awkward positions," Scott said. "So I think I was lucky to stay with a couple bogeys. Could have been worse.

"You know, maybe they were a bit tired swings. I really didn't put too many bad swings on it out there today, and at the end of the day, been grinding all day, just a couple lazy ones. I'm going to have to tighten that up for the next couple days."

Scott, who shot a 61 in the final round to win the Commercialbank Qatar Masters earlier this year, and Ogilvy both know they have their work cut out for them on Saturday.

The frequent practice round partners will have to contend with arguably the best player in the game and the phalanx of fans, photographers and sportswriters he brings with him. Mother Nature apparently plans to throw in another challenge with thunderstorms on the horizon.

But Ogilvy and Scott are exactly where they want to be.

"Every week you tee up and he's in the field, it's a good opportunity," Ogilvy said. "Especially at the moment, he's winning every week. ... The bookmakers obviously believe he's going to win, and everybody else. You guys probably all think he's going to win.

"So we've got nothing to lose, so why not just try to play as good as we can? It's just going to be fun."