Though still understated, no way Ogilvy can still be underrated

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Badz/PGA TOUR

Some time off to celebrate with his family is next on the to-do list for Geoff Ogilvy.

MARANA, Ariz. -- Geoff Ogilvy is as thoughtful as he is talented. He's as understated as he is underrated, too.

So when the 31-year-old Aussie won his second World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship on Sunday, he steered clear of the hype. He sidestepped those who wanted to categorize him as the next big thing as deftly as he wielded a wedge around those vexing greens at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.

"That's not really for me to decide -- it's for you guys to decide where I sit in the pecking order," Ogilvy said as he sat beside the Walter Hagen Cup in all its Wedgewood blue glory.

Ogilvy often punctuates his statements with a tilt of his head and a shrug of his shoulders, as if almost embarrassed by what he's just said. But he certainly made a statement last week in winning for the second time in just five starts this year.

"I think I'm a pretty decent player," Ogilvy, when pressed, acknowledged. "I played in some pretty good tournaments. (But) there's a few guys in the world who are obviously well in front of me: Tiger, Phil, Sergio, Harrington. So I'm at least fifth."

On Sunday, though, he was nothing if not No. 1.

With apologies to the man, Tiger Woods, Ogilvy may be the best practitioner of match play the game has today. He made 10 birdies and an eagle Sunday as he beat Paul Casey 4 and 3 in the scheduled 36-hole finale.

Over Ogilvy's last 56 holes, the numbers were even more eye-popping with 22 birdies, two eagles and just one bogey. He mowed down Kevin Sutherland, Shingo Katayama, Camilo Villegas, Rory McIlroy, Stewart Cink and Casey as he ran his record to 17-2.

The victory, which vaulted Ogilvy to the top of the FedExCup standings, was his third in the rarified air of World Golf Championships competition. He defends one of those in two weeks at the CA Championship at Doral where he halted Woods' five-tournament win streak last year.

Oh, and don't forget that Ogilvy won the 2006 U.S. Open, too.

"I enjoy situations like that," he said with another almost sheepish shrug. "Doral last year was obviously a really nice week to win for lots of reasons -- mostly because everyone was had decided that Tiger was going to win every tournament last year. ...

"I just enjoy big tournaments; I enjoy the big situations. All the craziness around a tournament, I can take or leave, but like the pressure situations towards the end of tournaments and the big situations, I really enjoy those."

Maybe that's why Ogilvy excels at match play, where every duel has a final-round feel. He likes the must-make putts to halve a hole or extend a match. He's learned to put each hole behind him and move on, never letting his demeanor change.

International Captain Greg Norman probably has already penciled Ogilvy in for the all-important Presidents Cup Singles match against Tiger Woods in October. But even though he's among the top 10 in the world, he exists in relative anonymity outside the most avid fans.

"Geoff is a quiet guy," Casey said. "Maybe that's why he doesn't get the attention that he deserves or the recognition that he deserves. But he's a phenomenal golfer. I mean, how many guys have won (three) World Golf (Championships) events?"

Ogilvy is one of 24 Australians playing the PGA TOUR this year. He doesn't make the ladies swoon like Adam Scott or have the Arnold Palmer-like aura of his soon-to-be Presidents Cup captain. What Ogilvy does have, though, is game, in abundance, and he is fast eclipsing his peers.

"I probably am playing the best of the Australians at the moment," Ogilvy said, as close to a boast as he comes. "But I don't think that there will be a next Greg Norman. I think each of us is going to take away from each other a bit, too. ...

"I think we have got three or four or five guys who could sit in the top 15 in the world for a lot of the next 10 or 15 years."

With Ogilvy leading the way, of course. Next up is the CA Championship, where Woods, who is expected back in action, has won three of the last four years. Ogilvy has the confidence, though, if not the swagger, and he's proven himself on the Blue Monster, as well.

"It'll be fun," he said, but not before he takes a week off at home in Scottsdale with his wife, Juli, and their two young children.

Further down the road is the U.S. Open, which is being played this year at Bethpage Black, not far from Winged Foot where he won -- it just so happens -- the same year he won his first Accenture Match Play Championship.

"It was nice that the U.S. Open is back in New York, which would be symmetrical," Ogilvy agreed. "I'm not too superstitious. It would be great if that was the way life worked."

Of course, stranger things have happened.