PGA Tour: Top Players of the West-Coast Swing

The PGA Tour’s west-coast swing officially ended with Geoff Ogilvy’s dominant performance at the Accenture Match Play Championship resulting in his second win of the 2009 season.

As the PGA Tour heads to Palm Beach Gardens for the Honda Classic, marking the start of the tour’s Florida swing, here’s a look at four players that really excelled on the West Coast.

Charlie Hoffman

In just five events this year, Hoffman has already exceeded his total earnings of 2008.

The fact that Hoffman is currently ninth in the FedEx Cup standings and has already earned just under a million dollars without having won a tournament is a testament to his consistently stellar play on the west coast.

Hoffman has finished within the top-25 in four out of his first five tournaments and came within a hair of winning the FBR Open where he was defeated by Kenny Perry on the third hole of a sudden death playoff.

Hoffman is currently the 102nd ranked player in the world so it is unlikely that he will qualify for the Masters unless he wins a tournament in the coming weeks, but he is off to as good a start as anyone in 2009.

Zach Johnson

Zach Johnson has clearly carried his late 2008 success right into the 2009 season.

Johnson won the tour’s second event of the year at the Sony Open and has finished within the top-20 in four out of his first five events.

Johnson has slowed up slightly over the past two weeks with a missed cut at the Northern Trust Open and a second round loss to Phil Mickelson at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Currently ranked 30th in the world, this former Masters Champion will surely be looking at the Florida swing as an opportunity to get his game ready for a possible repeat at Augusta in April.

Nick Watney

Looking as calm as a seasoned veteran, Nick Watney birdied two out of his last three holes at the Buick Invitational to edge out John Rollins and captured the second win of his young career.

Aside from his win at the Buick Invitational Watney has three top-25 finishes in the other four events he has played in.

Watney is currently ranked 77th in the world but his win at the Buick Invitational ensures him a trip to Augusta in April.

Geoff Ogilvy

There is no one on the PGA Tour hotter than Geoff Ogilvy right now.

Ogilvy won the tour’s first event of the year, the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and then played as close as one could possibly expect to come to flawless golf last week which led him to his second win of the season at the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Ogilvy has moved up to fourth in the world golf rankings, and at 31 years old, he is just entering the prime years of a golfer’s career.

After a win at the Mercedes-Benz Championship and a display of near perfect ball striking last week, it would have to be considered a supreme disappointment if Ogilvy does not seriously content at the majors this year, if not win one of them.