Mercedes-Benz Champ.: Final-round notebook
By John Bush, PGA TOUR Staff
KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Despite bogeys on his first two holes, Geoff Ogilvy steadied the ship Sunday to record a 5-under 68 and a six-stroke victory over Anthony Kim and Davis Love III at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship. The victory is the fifth of Ogilvy's career on the PGA TOUR, and comes just over a month since he won the Australian PGA Championship. The win is the first in wire-to-wire fashion since the Mercedes-Benz Championship moved to Kapalua in 1999.
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• The victory for Ogilvy is worth 500 points and moves him into the early lead in the season-long race for the FedExCup. 2008 FedExCup champion Vijay Singh wrapped up his 13th appearance at the Mercedes-Benz Championship with a tie for 27th -- his second finish in a row outside of the top 10 after six consecutive top-5 finishes (2001, 2003-07).
• Ogilvy is the eighth consecutive foreign-born winner of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, joining Daniel Chopra (2008), Singh (2007), Stuart Appleby (2004-06), Ernie Els (2003) and Sergio Garcia (2002).
• Ogilvy (67-68-65-68) becomes just the fifth player to record all four rounds in the 60s since the Mercedes-Benz Championship moved to The Plantation Course in 1999. The list includes David Duval (1999), Jim Furyk (2001), Els (2003), Tiger Woods (2005) and Ogilvy (2009). Incidentally, in two prior trips to the Mercedes-Benz Championship, Ogilvy had never posted a sub-70 round.
• Winning the Mercedes-Benz Championship has traditionally sparked an outstanding season. 2008 champion Chopra is the only player out of the last 17 winners who failed to advance to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola.
• Ogilvy's six-stroke win is the third largest since the Mercedes-Benz Championship moved to Kapalua in 1999, but still shy of Duval's nine-shot win in 1999 and Els' eight-stroke winning margin in 2003.
• Els, winner of the 2003 Mercedes-Benz Championship, finished tied for sixth in his first return trip to the Plantation Course since 2005. Els has eight career starts at the tournament, with six top-10 finishes (tied for 10th in 1998, second in 2000, tied for third in 2001, won in 2003, tied for third in 2005, tied for sixth in 2009).
• Of the 12 players making first appearance at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, Johnson Wagner enjoyed the best finish with a 10th-place showing. Dating back to 1999 -- when the event moved to Kapalua -- just two players have won the tournament in their first attempt (Chopra in 2008 and Sergio Garcia in 2002).
• The complete list of first-timers at the Mercedes-Benz Championship: Brian Gay (tied for 18th), Greg Kraft (tied for 29th), Andres Romero (32nd), Johnson Wagner (10th), Kim (tied for second), Ryuji Imada (tied for 18th), Richard S. Johnson (tied for 21st), Chez Reavie (tied for 12th), Parker McLachlin (tied for 24th), Camilo Villegas (tied for 12th), Dustin Johnson (11th) and Marc Turnesa (33rd).
• At the end of the first week of the Kodak Challenge, a first-of-its-kind competition with a $1 million payout at the end of the season, Trevor Immelman, Wagner, Adam Scott, Zach Johnson and Kim share the lead at 2 under par. There will be one designated Kodak Challenge hole (the 18th hole this week at Kapalua) at 24 different PGA TOUR tournaments, with players required to play at least 18 of the holes to be eligible. Players will count their lowest score relative to par on the hole made during an official competition round.
• Davis Love III -- a 20-time PGA TOUR winner -- posted a tie for second finish this week in his 13th appearance at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. It is the 30th runner-up finish of his career. In all, Love has nine top-10 finishes at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, including a win in 1993.
• Defending champion Chopra recorded a tie for 27th finish this week. In the history of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, six players have won the tournament in back-to-back years: Stuart Appleby (2004-05-06), Lanny Wadkins (1982-83), Tom Watson (1979-80), Arnold Palmer (1965-66), Jack Nicklaus (1963-64) and Gene Littler (1955-56-57).
• Past champions of the Mercedes-Benz Championships and their respective finishes this week: 2008 winner Chopra (tied for 27th), 2007 champion Singh (tied for 27th), 2003 winner Els (tied for sixth) and 1993 champion Love III (tied for second).
• There were five bogey-free rounds on Sunday: Sean O'Hair (65), Love (67), Els (67), Johnson (67) and Brian Gay (71).
• The par-73 Plantation Course yielded a 69.758 average on Sunday, bringing the cumulative average for the week to 70.515. The par-4 first hole played the most difficult this week at 4.250, while the par-5 fifth hole played the easiest at 4.379.
• The PGA TOUR heads to Honolulu next week for the Sony Open in Hawaii. Mercedes-Benz Championship winner Ogilvy is hoping to join Els (2003) as the only players to successfully capture titles at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and the Sony Open in the same year to open the PGA TOUR season.
• With this victory, Ogilvy earned his fifth PGA TOUR win at the age of 31 years, 7 months in his 192nd career start on TOUR. His previous victories came at the 2005 Chrysler Classic of Tucson, the 2006 World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship, the 2006 U.S. Open Championship and the 2008 World Golf Championships-CA Championship.
• Ogilvy recorded his first Mercedes-Benz Championship victory in his third career start (tied for 13th in 2007, tied for 19th in 2008). This also was his 40th career top-10 finish, and he moved from No. 37 to No. 31 on the career money list with $17,426,625. With his paycheck of $1,120,000, he surpassed $1 million in earnings for the seventh consecutive season.
• His victory is the fourth by an Australian in the last six years of the event (Stuart Appleby, 2004-06). Ogilvy became the first wire-to-wire winner of the Mercedes-Benz Championship since it moved to Kapalua in 1999.
• Ogilvy recorded the third-largest margin of victory at the Mercedes-Benz Championship since 1999, behind Duval's nine-stroke win in 1999 and Els' eight-stroke victory in 2003.
• Ogilvy is now three for four when holding the 54-hole lead on the PGA TOUR. The others led to a victory at the 2005 Chrysler Classic of Tucson, a tie for sixth at the 2005 Honda Classic and a win at the 2008 World Golf Championships-CA Championship.
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