Geoff Ogilvy survives last-round
crisis to win US Tour opener

Australian Geoff Ogilvy won the first event of the 2009 US Tour by six shots with a closing 68 for a 24-under-par total of 268. Joint runners-up on 274 were Anthony Kim, who closed to within one stroke at one stage, and Davis Love. Both shot 67s.
REPORT FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
KAPALUA, Hawaii -- He was frustrated, not angry. Geoff Ogilvy was quick to make the distinction Sunday as he reflected on his win the Mercedes-Benz Championship.
The bearded Aussie needed that lesson in semantics after making bogey on the eighth hole of his final round at the Plantation Course. It was his fourth in eight holes, and suddenly, what had been a six-stroke lead at the start of the day, had dwindled to one.
"Is there a difference between frustrated and angry?" Ogilvy wondered aloud even as he fielded questions with a purple and white lei wrapped around his neck.
No matter. Those emotions were short-lived as Ogilvy reached the par-5 ninth with a 3-iron and rolled in a 21-footer for eagle that gave him a three-shot edge over Anthony Kim. Birdies on five of his next six holes followed and Ogilvy's fifth win was reality.
"Since I walked off the ninth green I felt actually the best I did all week," he said. "All of a sudden, a switch flicked."
The wire-to-wire winner was the just the fifth player to post four rounds in the 60s since the tournament moved to Kapalua in 1999. He made 27 birdies and an eagle, while dropping just five strokes to par in a brilliant display of shot-making and nerve.
"I knew he was going to make birdies," said Kim, who tied for second with Davis Love III at 18 under. "I knew it was my job to keep matching him and keep pushing him. I didn't put enough heat on him; seven under through seven holes, what can you say?"
"This is a great course for a guy that hits it like he does," Love agreed. "If I would have got up-and-down a few more times and made a few more putts, I would have been a little closer, but I don't think I could have got to him."
If his performance at Kapalua is any indication, the 2006 U.S. Open champ could be destined for big things this year. He's been a notoriously slow starter during his career but he's already won twice in four starts since the start of December, counting the Australian PGA Championship.
"That's a dream start to the year," Ogilvy admitted. "I knew I was playing well, so it's nice to have one up early and now I can set about getting more."
Sunday's victory was the fifth of Ogilvy's US PGA Tour career and came against a winners-only field of 32 assembled at Kapalua. The 31-year-old takes the lead in the FedExCup with the 500 points he earned and is $1.12 million richer, as well.
Ogilvy may have a major on his resume, but he's decidedly understated and definitely underappreciated. He's popular among the media for his candour and quick wit but fans appear more drawn to the young guns like Kim and Camilo Villegas.
And that suits Ogilvy, who admits he's comfortable in the "background," just fine.
"They are younger than me and have put some good runs on the board," he said. "They are allowed to be the talk of the Tour. I don't feel like I've missed out at all. In fact, the less I have to come in here and talk about stuff, the better."
That said, don't think for a minute that Ogilvy doesn't believe he can take the next step. He's repeatedly come up big in marquee events like the Open and the World Golf Championships -- joining Tiger Woods and Darren Clarke as the only players to have won two of the elite global tournaments.
"I'm realistic enough to know weeks like this don't come along very often; hopefully more often in the future than they have done in the past," Ogilvy said. "I feel like I'm a pretty good player.
"I still throw out the negative comment here and there, but there's a lot more positive stuff than there used to be. The more you see the benefits from doing that sort of stuff, the more you want to do it."
Ogilvy has already won more than $17 million on the strength of 40 top-10 finishes since joining the US Tour in 2001. He hasn't made his presence known on leaderboards as frequently as he would have liked, though, and that separates him from the Tiger Woods and Vijay Singhs of the world.
"I feel like I'm closer to that stage now, but there's still probably a gap there," he said. "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.
"Golf's a weird game."
That's exactly what he thought as he left the eighth green on Sunday.
+Ogilvy demonstrated that you don't have to drive the ball over 300yd to be a winner on the US Tour. Geoff's average driving distance for the four rounds was 275.9yd. He hit 75% of the fairways and 86.1% of the greens in regulation. He holed on average 29 putts per round and had a 33.3% success rate in getting up and down in two shots or fewer from bunkers - not that he was in many!
LEADING TOTALS
Par 292 (4 x 73)
Players from US unless stated
268 Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 67 68 65 68.
274 Anthony Kim 71 68 68 67, Davis Love 69 70 68 67.
275 Sean O'Hair 69 70 71 65.
276 Justin Leonard 74 67 65 70.
277 Ernie Els (SAf) 68 69 73 67, Zach Johnson 71 75 64 67, Kenny Perry 68 71 68 70, D J Trahan 70 66 70 71.

278 Johnson Wagner 68 71 70 69
279 Dustin Johnson 72 72 68 67
280 Will MacKenzie 72 70 69 69, Camilo Villegas (Col) 74 67 66 73, Chez Reavie 75 70 68 67
281 K J Choi (SKor) 71 71 66 73, Boo Weekley 70 70 69 72
282 Carl Pettersson (Swe) 72 72 70 68
283 Adam Scott (Aus) 73 67 73 70, Brian Gay 72 70 70 71, Ryuji Imada (Jap) 69 70 74 70
284 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 72 72 71 69, Trevor Immelman (SAf) 72 74 69 69
285 Cameron Beckman 76 73 66 70
286 Steve Lowery 69 75 70 72, Stewart Cink 74 67 71 74, Parker McLachlin 77 69 69 71
287 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 79 69 67 72, Vijay Singh (Fiji) 73 73 71 70
288 J B Holmes 74 75 72 67, Greg Kraft 72 73 68 75
291 Ryan Palmer 78 75 72 66
295 Andres Romero (Arg) 78 74 71 72
296 Marc Turnesa 79 73 70 74