Ogilvy ends Tiger Woods' winning streak
DORAL, Fla. (AP) -Poor Geoff Ogilvy. Once again, his win will be remembered as someone else's loss.
It was that way at Winged Foot after the 2006 U.S. Open, the one marked by Phil Mickelson's collapse on the 72nd hole. And the same might happen after this week's CA Championship, simply because that's where Tiger Woods' winning streak ended.
Ogilvy won the CA Championship Monday, saving a round that seemed in peril with a ``very lucky'' chip-in for par at the 13th hole and going on to claim his second victory in a World Golf Championship event. Not only did Ogilvy take down Tiger, it came at Doral, where Woods had won each of the past three years.
So much for that perfect-season talk.
For the first time in more than six months, Woods was beaten.
``At some point, they stop going in and I guess they stopped going in for him this week,'' Ogilvy said. ``Yeah, it's nice.''
A final round of 1-under 71 - with nothing but nine pars Monday morning, when the oft-delayed tournament finally ended - was enough for Ogilvy to finish at 17 under, one shot better than Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh, who all closed with 68s in the rain-delayed tournament.
Woods was fifth at 15 under, losing for the first time in six PGA Tour starts and seven official events worldwide, not counting his win at the 16-player Target World Challenge.
``As players, it's nice to see somebody else lift a trophy for a change,'' Goosen said.
With the win, Ogilvy joined select company - only Woods (15) and Darren Clarke (two) have more than one WGC title. Ogilvy added this win to the Accenture Match Play title he claimed in 2006.
For his part, Woods wasn't distraught by seeing the streak end.
``People don't really understand, you need to have something happen, a positive thing happen to you out there in order to win tournaments,'' Woods said. ``I heard Geoff bladed one in the hole for par. That's what you need to have happen. Those are the things that have happened to me, and things weren't going that way this week.''
Indeed, Ogilvy got the biggest break at the most crucial time.
Woods started the morning five shots back with seven holes remaining and made his typical charge, closing within two strokes after making a 4-footer at the 17th. He birdied the 12th to start his day, then hit his tee shot within a foot at the par-3 15th for a tap-in.
At that very moment, two holes behind, Ogilvy seemed in trouble.
He pulled his 2-iron tee shot at the par-3 13th way left, and his chip from thick, dewy grass didn't even reach the green - making bogey seem probable, until a most improbable shot followed.
Ogilvy's second chip hopped twice, hit the pin and dropped straight in, giving the Australian a break he desperately needed. If it went past the cup, he surely could have been looking at double-bogey - since the ball clearly would have kept rolling for a while.
``That was moving,'' Ogilvy said. ``That's why you have to hit it on line. Flag gets in the way.''
That chip also took him back to Winged Foot, the site of his last win before Monday.
It was on the 17th hole during the final round there, with shadows creeping across the green, when Ogilvy hit a chip for the ages. It squirted across the green and into the cup for a par, and when Mickelson made his unbelievable double-bogey about an hour later - prompting his still-infamous ``I am such an idiot'' reaction - Ogilvy was a U.S. Open champion.
This one wasn't so dramatic, but the symmetry was there nonetheless.
``Whenever you watch people win golf tournaments, you often see something like that happen to the guy who wins somewhere along the way,'' Ogilvy said. ``It happens quite regularly, and so you can't help but think, 'Well, last time I won a big golf tournament I did that on the 17th hole.' ... I didn't think about it for very long, but I'm sure it came into my head for a minute.''
And no one ever caught him.
Singh got within a stroke before back-to-back bogeys doomed his chances. Furyk got within one after making birdie at the 17th, then missed the fairway at the finishing hole. Adam Scott started the morning four shots back, then inexplicably missed a 2-foot tap-in and lost all hope of making a run.
Woods had a birdie putt on all seven holes he played Monday. He missed four, and never got closer than within two of Ogilvy. With that, the streak was over.
``It was going to end at some point,'' Ogilvy said. ``I'm very glad that I did it. It's a nice place to do it, too, because he's obviously owned this place for the last few years. He just had one of those weeks.''
Notes: Woods' check for $285,000 put him over the $80 million mark in official earnings. ... Woods was among several players who scurried out quickly to get to Orlando for the afternoon start to the Tavistock Cup, the annual match between pros from the Lake Nona and Isleworth clubs. ... Goosen's finish was his best since tying for second at the Masters last year.
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