Ogilvy just the right man to bring an end to streak

US TOUR NEWS : NOT THAT Geoff Ogilvy will have been overly concerned after securing his first PGA Tour victory for almost two…

US TOUR NEWS: NOT THAT Geoff Ogilvy will have been overly concerned after securing his first PGA Tour victory for almost two years and a €865,000 cheque, but the 2008 CA Championship at the Doral course will be remembered not for who won it but, rather, for the identity of the man who lost. Tiger Woods.

It was ever thus in an era when the world number one dominates the landscape, seemingly endowed with the talent and will-power to win every tournament he enters.

Those attributes carried him to an extraordinary seven consecutive victories - and nine in 10 events - but even greatness has its limits, it appears, and Woods finally came up short yesterday as this weather-interrupted world championship event staggered to its end on a damp Monday morning.

Needless to say, Woods did not go quietly in the gloom, and in more senses than one. On the course, he had seven holes to complete when play began and was five shots adrift of the overnight leader, Ogilvy.

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He duly birdied the par-five 12th, rolling in a 20-foot putt, and picked up another at the 15th after hitting his approach shot to three feet.

At that stage his deficit was only two, and it would have been further reduced at the next hole had not his drive ended up in the thick grass around a greenside bunker - an outrageous piece of bad luck.

He did make birdie at his penultimate hole, but was then reliant on others slipping up. They did not, and he finished on 15 under par, two behind Ogilvy's winning score.

"I thought seven birdies in a row," he said afterwards when asked if he had any idea of what was required to extend his streak before play started. "But I made too many mistakes. I had four three-putts in the week, two bad lies in bunkers and a photographer got me on the ninth hole yesterday. All in all, to only finish two shots back was a pretty good effort."

The photographer in question fired off some shots on his backswing at the par-three on Sunday, and Woods ended up making bogey.

It is debatable whether the incident cost him the tournament, but it will have cost him a few thousand dollars in PGA Tour fines after he hurled a few epithets at the snappers, the most choice of which was: "The next time a photographer shoots a f***ing picture I'm going to break his f***ing neck."

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem takes a dim view of such tantrums and has fined the famously foul-mouthed Woods a fortune over the years. He will do so again.

But if Woods was in the commissioner's doghouse, then Ogilvy was surely elevated to the role of teacher's pet. Finchem spoke last week about the difficulty in creating "young stars" in the light of Woods' dominance, and will have been delighted at the identity of the man who brought the current streak to an end.

The 30-year-old Australian is a smart and thoughtful fellow with views and interests that extend far beyond the usual narcissistic preoccupations of the modern golfer. Heavens, he even has sensible opinions on course architecture (players should be made to think more about which shot to play) and on "advances" in modern equipment (they have gone too far).

He is also a sensational player, having already won the 2006 US Open. He has played steadily rather than spectacularly since then, not least because he has been otherwise preoccupied with fatherhood, but yesterday's result confirms his status as the next great player who is not called Tiger or Phil.

Starting the day with a two-shot lead over the field, Ogilvy ran off nine straight pars to secure a one-shot victory over Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk.

"It had to end some time," Ogilvy said of Woods' recent run of victories. "It is pretty neat to be the one to end Tiger's streak and it's a nice place to do it too, because he has owned this course the last few years."

If victory belonged to the Australian, then the most surprising performance of the week was that of Hartlepool's Graeme Storm. The Englishman finished in a tie for sixth place, earning €127,000.

Graeme McDowell never really got going in the week and closed with a 73. That was still worth €30,000 and he is now third on the European order of merit.

  • Guardian Service