Ogilvy captures Mercedes-Benz Champs

KAPALUA – Australian Geoff Ogilvy fired a five-under-par 68 to win the season-opening US$5.6 million PGA Mercedes-Benz Championship on Sunday.

Ogilvy finished with a 24-under 268 total, six strokes ahead of Americans Anthony Kim and Davis Love.
Ogilvy entered Sunday’s final round with a six-stroke lead but was up by just one shot after a bogey at No. 8, his fourth hole of the day.
An eagle at the ninth got him back on track and Ogilvy clinched his fifth PGA Tour victory with a run of four consecutive birdies starting at No. 12.
‘I had never had a six-shot lead before. That’s quite an uncomfortable feeling really,’ Ogilvy said. ‘I enjoyed the last 2 1/2 hours more than I enjoyed the first two.’
With the win, Ogilvy picks up a first-place check of just over one million dollars, and guarantees himself a spot in the field next season.
He is also the eighth straight international player to win this event.
After Saturday’s superb round, it looked like Ogilvy was going to cruise home for a wire-to-wire win. But that all went out the window in a hurry on Sunday as he got off to rough start on a rain-softened Kapalua course.
‘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.’
Ogilvy pushed his drive right and failed to reach the green in regulation at the par-four first which resulted in a bogey.
He followed that up by finding a bunker to the right of the green at the par-three second and missing a five-foot putt for par. A short approach to the seventh led to a bogey and another tee shot in the bunker resulted in a bogey at the par-three eighth.
With his lead shrunk to one, Ogilvy rebounded. He reached the green in two at the 521-yard, par-5 ninth and made eagle to enter the back nine with a more comfortable three-stroke lead.
Kim and Love each carded six-under 67s to finish at 18-under 274. – Nampa-AFP