The Daily Wrap-up, Final round: Accenture Match Play

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Geoff Ogilvy won his second career Accenture Match Play Championship by easily defeating Paul Casey 4 and 3.

Mar. 2, 2009

MARANA, Ariz. (AP) -- Geoff Ogilvy won the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship for the second time in four years with a 4-and-3 victory over Paul Casey of England to stake his claim Sunday as the best in the world at match play.

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Cink's winning hole-out

In a relentless performance at Dove Mountain, the 31-year-old Australian did not trail over the final 62 holes of the tournament and did not have a bogey on his card over the last 57 holes.

He took the lead with a 6-foot birdie on the first hole of a 36-hole title match, and never gave Casey a chance. Ogilvy had a 3-up lead after the morning round, then shot 31 on the front nine to pull away.

A tournament that began with so much buzz over the return of Tiger Woods ended with a newfound appreciation for the match-play prowess of Ogilvy, who ran his career record to 18-3 in this fickle format.

"The best thing I can say is I enjoy the format," Ogilvy said. "Generally, when you enjoy something, you do it well."

Ogilvy won his third World Golf Championship -- he will defend his title in two week at Doral in the CA Championship -- the most of any player besides Woods, who has won 15 of these elite events.

And while Woods is a three-time winner of the Accenture Match Play Championship, Ogilvy ran his record in this tournament to 17-2. He lost in the championship match two years ago to Henrik Stenson, and lost in the first round last year to Justin Leonard.

Casey, who brought a 16-3-1 record in match play into the final, faced a 3-up deficit after the morning match and knew he had to play well to get back in the game. He birdied three of his next eight holes, and Ogilvy still stretched his lead to 5 up.

• To read the remainder of this story, click here.

OGILVY UNDERSTATED AND UNDERRATED
By Helen Ross, Chief of Correspondents

MARANA, Ariz. -- Geoff Ogilvy is as thoughtful as he is talented. He's as understated as he is underrated, too.

So when the 31-year-old Aussie won his second World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship on Sunday, he steered clear of the hype. He sidestepped those who wanted to categorize him as the next big thing as deftly as he wielded a wedge around those vexing greens at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.

"That's not really for me to decide -- it's for you guys to decide where I sit in the pecking order," Ogilvy said, his eyes almost downcast as he sat beside the Walter Hagen Cup in all its Wedgewood blue glory.

Ogilvy often punctuates his statements with a tilt of his head and a shrug of his shoulders, as if almost embarrassed by what he's just said. But he certainly made a statement in winning for the second time in just five starts this year.

"I think I'm a pretty decent player," Ogilvy, when pressed, acknowledged. "I played in some pretty good tournaments. (But) there's a few guys in the world who are obviously well in front of me: Tiger, Phil, Sergio, Harrington. So I'm at least fifth."

On Sunday, though, he was nothing if not No. 1.

• To read the remainder of this story, click here.

Geoff Ogilvy at the Accenture Match Play Championship

Year	Round	Opponent	Result	Score
2009	1	Kevin Sutherland	W	19 holes
	2	Shingo Katayama	W	19 holes
	3	Camilo Villegas	W	2 and 1
	Quarterfinals	Rory McIlroy	W	2 and 1
	Semifinals	Stewart Cink	W	4 and 2
	Championship	Paul Casey	W	4 and 3
2008	1	Justin Leonard	L	2 and 1
2007	1	Steve Stricker	W	4 and 3
	2	Jose Maria Olazabal	W	2 and 1
	3	Niclas Fasth	W	2 and 1
	Quarterfinals	Paul Casey	W	5 and 4
	Semifinals	Chad Campbell	W	3 and 2
	Championship	Henrik Stenson	L	2 and 1
2006	1	Michael Campbell	W	19 holes
	2	Nick O'Hern	W	21 holes
	3	Mike Weir	W	21 holes
	Quarterfinals	David Howell	W	19 holes
	Semifinals	Tom Lehman	W	4 and 3
	Championship	Davis Love III	W	3 and 2

SHOT OF THE DAY	ROUND OF THE DAY
Geoff Ogilvy eagled the par-5 eighth hole on the 26th hole of his match with Paul Casey to take a commanding 5-up lead. Watch his shot	Geoff Ogilvy had 10 birdies, an eagle and no bogeys in the 33 holes of his 4 and 3 win over Paul Casey in Sunday's final. Check out his scorecard

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"There might be better players who don't get into this tournament who are better match-play players than me, but I have played very well in this tournament the last few years. I'm obviously one of the better match players [in the world]." -- Geoff Ogilvy on winning 85 percent of his career match-play matches.

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND MATCH REPORT
By PGATOUR.COM Staff

Here's a quick look at each match from Sunday's 36-hole final of the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Click here for the updated bracket.

Final match report

Players	Score
GEOFF OGILVY, Australia, def. PAUL CASEY, England	4 and 3
Paul Casey had not trailed in his first five matches at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship. Of course, he had not played Geoff Ogilvy yet. The Aussie has been nothing short of stellar in this mano-y-mano format and Sunday was no exception. Ogilvy took immediate command when he took a page out of Casey's book and won the first hole with a birdie. He was 2 up after a par at the sixth and birdies at Nos. 8 and 9 sent him to the back nine of the morning session with a comfortable 4-up lead. Casey holed a 6-iron for eagle at the par-4 10th hole, though, and appeared poised to win the 11th, too, after Ogilvy's second shot lodged in a cholla cactus and he had to take a drop. The Aussie missed the green with his fourth shot, but chipped in for par and won the hole when Casey missed a 15-foot putt to halve. The Englishman finally gained a little momentum when he won the 18th hole of the morning match with a par -- after having to make birdie to halve the previous two. But Ogilvy just had too many weapons. He again won the first hole in the afternoon session, then the seventh with a birdie, eighth with an eagle and ninth with a par to build a 6-up advantage from which Casey couldn't recover. "Geoff was exceptional today," Casey said. "This afternoon, three birdies I think in the first eight holes and I still lost two holes. I threw a lot of things at him and he didn't flinch. It was very, very impressive. I got outplayed today." Ogilvy, who won the Accenture Match Play Championship for the second time in four years, was pleased by the caliber of players he defeated along the way to the title. "The thing I'll remember is I beat some really good players and I beat the world because I played really, really well the last three or four days," he said. "Also how well I played on the weekend, I played better and better during the week. Every round I played better, which doesn't often happen with golf. So it's a really nice progression like that." Ogilvy, who has now won three World Golf Championships events, captured the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship in wire-to-wire fashion and now owns the lead in the FedExCup.

• To read the match report from the consolation match, click here.

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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent Fred Albers offers these observations from Sunday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.

Geoff Ogilvy's 4 and 3 win against Paul Casey appears a bit lopsided, but the final result was very much in doubt on the match's 22nd hole. Casey drained a 34-foot birdie that would have put him just 2 down, however Ogilvy topped him with a birdie of his own from 15 feet. That was the entire key to his success. Whenever Casey challenged, Ogilvy had an immediate answer with brilliant shot-making and putting.

Ogilvy is known as a great long-iron player and he enhanced that reputation at the Accenture Match Play Championship. On the par-5 eighth hole, Ogilvy had 242 yards to the flagstick and calmly struck an iron to within 4 feet, leading to eagle and a 5-up lead in his championship match against Casey. The secret to his long irons are swing plane and tempo. He has a wide arc and is able to keep the same rhythm with his 3-iron as his pitching wedge.

In truth, the consolation match is difficult to play. Yes there is money, world ranking and FedExCup points at stake, but it is still a disappointing afternoon to have missed the championship match. Stewart Cink finished like a champion, maintaining his concentration to finish birdie, birdie, birdie to beat Ross Fisher 1 up. His final birdie was a hole-out from the bunker that prevented the consolation match from going to the 19th hole.

Bracket

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