Geoff Ogilvy Runs Away with PGA Tour's Season Opener

After playing 54 holes as close as one can possibly expect to come to perfect golf, Geoff Ogilvy looked as if he were going to let a six stroke lead slip right out of his hands on Sunday.

Heading into the final round at the Mercedes Benz Championship, Ogilvy had made 20 birdies and just one bogey in 54 holes and was playing the game as if he were some kind of machine programmed to hit fairways and greens on every single hole.

Surprisingly, Ogilvy began his final round with two straight bogeys and combined with a fast start by Anthony Kim, Ogilvy saw a six stroke lead diminish to just one stroke in the matter of a half hour.

“It's an uncomfortable feeling, definitely, to know your six shots out in front and know you're almost back to tied.  That's not very comfortable because you can just imagine what people are thinking and what's going on.” Ogilvy said of his slow start on Sunday.

Ogilvy’s front nine on Sunday could best be described as a roller-coaster ride.

Ogilvy bogeyed the first two holes, birdied the fifth and sixth and then bogeyed the seventh and eighth. 

After knocking a 3-iron to 20 feet on the par-5 ninth, Ogilvy sunk his eagle putt which proved to be that all important momentum swinging event in his round.

Following his eagle on the ninth, Ogilvy birdied the par-4 10th and then caught fire with a streak of four straight birdies on holes 11-15 on his way to a score of 32 on the back-nine which brought him right back to where he started the day, with a six stroke lead over the field.

“I enjoyed the last two-and-a-half hours more than I enjoyed the first two hours today. Obviously a very rough start. I had never had a six-shot lead before. That's quite an uncomfortable feeling really. It was tricky on the front nine and I wasn't playing horribly. I just had a couple of loose shots and a couple of putts that I thought were pretty decent and didn't go in, which is the sort of thing that happens when you're leading, I guess.

But the two best shots of the week down the ninth hole, made my best putt and probably my best back nine of the week. So definitely a round of two halves. Pretty poor first eight holes, and great last 10 holes, and I really enjoyed it. Once I got through nine, I really enjoyed every hole on the back nine. I all of a sudden felt like -- felt a lot better about everything, and played really well the last nine holes.”  Ogilvy described his roller-coaster round on Sunday.

Ogilvy’s win earned him $1.12 million, a brand new Mercedes and a trip back to Maui in 2010. 

But more importantly, this win has surely given Ogilvy a much needed confidence boost after a dismal finish to the 2008 season.

Following a  win at the WGC-CA Championship, where he ended Tiger Woods early-season winning streak, and a ninth-place finish at the 2008 US Open, Ogilvy moved up to number three in the World Golf Rankings before deciding to take a month off from the game.

Ogilvy never really recovered from his month-long hiatus and didn’t finish inside of the top-25 at any event for the remainder of the season.  This poor finish to the 2008 season saw Ogilvy quickly drop eight places in the World Golf Rankings.

Entering the 2009 season, the health of Ogilvy’s game and even his commitment to the game were being questioned. 

Back in 2007-2008, Ogilvy’s stellar play at the majors combined with his carefree persona made him one of those players mentioned as a possible competitor to Tiger Woods.

However, a dreadful finish to the 2008 season combined with the emergence of Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas resulted in Ogilvy entering the 2009 season back in the shadows.

Aside from a small glitch at the start of his final round, Ogilvy completely dominated the Mercedes-Benz Championship and sent a message to the PGA Tour that he is back and he still has the game and commitment to win big-time tournaments.

Asked about the difference in his level of play, which is winning one significant tournament per year, to that of player such as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh, who consistently win multiple tournaments each year, Ogilvy answered “I feel like I'm closer to that stage now, but there's still probably a gap there.

"But more a consistency thing rather than—because if I played like this every week, I'd be all right, and obviously work out how to do it a bit more often. I think it's coming. I think I could get to that sort of stage.”

After a dominant win at the PGA Tour’s opening event, Ogilvy has at least taken the first step to getting back into that conversation of players who can legitimately contend at the majors.

Geoff Ogilvy has continually stated that he likes to fly under the radar and doesn’t mind at all the lack of attention he receives.

Ogilvy is not as recognizable as the likes of Woods, Mickelson or Kim and can probably go out in public and do just about anything without the fear of being hounded by fans. 

However, if he keeps playing the game of golf at a level similar to what he displayed last week in Maui, Ogilvy will no longer have that luxury.