For Ogilvy, timely eagle provides emotional rescue

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Badz/PGA TOUR

With his fifth career PGA TOUR victory, Geoff Ogilvy is riding high.

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.

Inside the Numbers

Ogilvy's Final Stats

Category Total Rank Eagles 1 T6 Birdies 27 1 Pars 39 29 Bogeys 5 T23 Double Bogeys 0 N/A Other 0 N/A Driving Accuracy 75.0% T8 Driving Distance 275.9 yds. 21 Greens in Regulation 86.1% T8 Putts per Round 29.0 T3 Putts per GIR 1.645 1 Sand Saves 33.3% T17

The bearded Aussie needed that lesson in semantics after making bogey on the eighth hole at the Plantation Course Sunday. 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; 7 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 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 candor 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 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.