Ogilvy’s 2010 Vision Taking Shape
With Win In SBS Championship
Aussie holds off Rory
Sabbatini to defend his
title in the event.
BY MIKE PURKEY
This is obviously Geoff Ogilvy’s
time of year. When most players
are knocking off rust, Ogilvy is
busy hoisting hardware. Ogilvy defended his title at the SBS Championship, the winners-only season
opener on the PGA Tour, winning
by one shot over Rory Sabbatini at the Plantation Course at
Kapalua Resort in Maui, Hawaii.
Ogilvy finished four rounds at
22-under-par 270.
Ogilvy has won seven times on
the PGA Tour, and six victories
have come from January through
March. His only summertime
victory was the 2006 U.S. Open.
For Ogilvy to make winning a
habit the remainder of the year,
he took a good, hard look at his
patterns. In 2009, he won the SBS
Championship to start the year,
won the WGC-Accenture Match
Play Championship in February
and did little else.
“I think I have an awareness of where I
went astray last year,” said Geoff Ogilvy,
who has also won the 2008 Australian PGA
in his home country. “Hopefully I won’t
make the same mistakes. I tried to force
things when the game went awry. I think
it’s better if I let the game come back,
instead of forcing it.”
layout and took the early lead at
21-under par. But Ogilvy knew
what he faced and took advantage
of what the course offered.
He birdied the 282-yard, par- 4
14th by laying up on a hole that
much of the field was driving on
the green. He flipped a lob wedge
to 6 feet and made the putt to tie
Sabbatini. Ogilvy then hit the par-
5 15th in two with a 5-wood and
two-putted to permanently take
the lead.
Sabbatini, who started the
day six shots back of third-round
leader Lucas Glover, turned in
4-under 32 and made six birdies on the back nine, including
a 20-footer at the difficult 17th.
However, he failed to get up-and-down from 50 yards for birdie at
the 663-yard, par- 5 18th and the
par cost him a chance at a playoff.
The tournament belonged to
Glover for the first three days, as
the U.S. Open champion led each
of the three rounds. Entering
Sunday, Glover stood at 17-under-
par 202 and led Ogilvy by one,
but he shot 76 in the final round
and finished 14th.
The third round brought a different wind direction and speed,
which played havoc with the field.
For the first time all week, there
were more scores in the 70s than
in the 60s at Kapalua, most notably Glover’s 2-under 71.
Ogilvy nearly caught Glover
with a 5-under 68 to finish one
shot back at 203 after 54 holes.
Matt Kuchar and Sean O’Hair
each posted 71 and were another
three behind at 13-under 206.
For Glover, the wind wasn’t as
much of a problem as was his putter. The longest putt he made all
day was about 8 feet, in contrast
to the more than 200 feet of putts
he holed for the first two days.
Ogilvy made five birdies in a
nine-hole stretch in the middle
of his round and held on for his
68. He caught Glover late in the
day, until Glover regained his lead
with a birdie on the par- 5 18th, a
brute at 663 yards that he hit in
two shots.
After an early bogey in Friday’s
second round, Glover blitzed the
Plantation Course with an 8-un-
der par 65 on a virtually windless
day when 27 of the 28 players in
the field broke par.
Glover bogeyed the par- 3
second and played the next 14
holes in 9-under, including a par
on the par- 5 18th when much of
the field was hitting the 663-yard
hole in two.
Glover, who shot 66 in the
first round, was at 15-under-par
134 and opened up a three-shot
advantage halfway through the
tournament, leading John Rol-lins, who shot 68-66-134, 12-un-
der. Ogilvy led a group of four
at 11-under 135 that included
O’Hair, Kuchar and Martin Laird.
After an opening double-
bogey Thursday, Glover went
9-under in a nine-hole stretch in
the middle of his round, includ-
ing two eagles – on the par- 5 fifth
and the par- 5 ninth. He failed to
get up-and-down for birdie after
reaching the back fringe on the
par- 5 15th and three-putted the
par- 4 1th for a bogey before mak-
ing birdie at the 18th.
SBS CHAMPIONSHIP
