Accenture Match Play: Final-round notebook

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MARANA, Ariz. -- In Sunday's Championship Match, Geoff Ogilvy defeated Paul Casey, 4 and 3. Ogilvy led Casey 3-up after 18 holes, the fourth-largest lead through 18 holes in event history. The 4-and-3 result tied the third largest-margin in event history.

• Ogilvy applied the pressure early in the match, winning the opening hole with a birdie. With Casey 1-down, it marked the first time that Casey had been behind in any match this week. Ogilvy raced to a 4-up lead through the first nine holes. Casey holed a 204-yard, 6-iron from the middle of the 10th fairway for an eagle 2, winning his first hole of the match.

• On No. 11, Ogilvy was forced to take a penalty for an unplayable lie after hitting into the desert, eventually chipping-in to save par. When Casey missed a 15-footer for par, Ogilvy was back to 4-up. Casey birdied the 17th and 18th holes, winning the 18th to trail Ogilvy 3-down after 18 holes. Ogilvy added three birdies and an eagle over the third-nine holes of the match to get to 6-up, before conceding, the 29th hole to Casey, who then birdied No. 31 to be 4-down. The pair halved the 32nd hole before Ogilvy closed out the match, 4 and 3, with a birdie at the 33rd hole.

Attendance:
Monday: 5,570 (5,000 in 2008)
Tuesday: 7,610 (7,500 in 2008)
Wednesday: 13,620 (12,500 in 2008)
Thursday: 14,120 (12,500 in 2008)
Friday: 11,130 (12,500 in 2008)
Saturday: 7,640 (7,500 in 2008)
Sunday: 6,270 (7,500 in 2008)

Road to the Final:
R1: Ogilvy def. Kevin Sutherland, 19 holes; Casey def. Aaron Baddeley, 1 up
R2: Ogilvy def. Shingo Katayama, 19 holes; Casey def. Mathew Goggin, 6 and 4
R3: Ogilvy def. Camilo Villegas, 2 and 1; Casey def. Peter Hanson, 4 and 2
QF: Ogilvy def. Rory McIlroy, 2 and 1; Casey def. Sean O'Hair, 4 and 3
SF: Ogilvy def. Stewart Cink, 4 and 2; Casey def. Ross Fisher, 2 and 1
Championship Match: Ogilvy def. Paul Casey, 4 and 3

• Ogilvy continues his stellar play at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Now with a 17-2 record, Ogilvy has the highest winning percentage (88.23 percent) of any player in the event history with more than 10 wins on his resume. Second is Tiger Woods (32-7, 82.05 percent), followed by David Toms (23-8, 74.2 percent).

• Ogilvy was 12 under through 33 holes at the conclusion of the Championship Match. He was conceded a par at the 29th hole making him bogey-free for the day.

• Ogilvy (2006, 2009) joins Woods (2003, 2004, 2008) as the only players to win the Accenture Match Play Championship multiple times. Ogilvy (3), Woods (15), and Darren Clarke (2) are the only players to own multiple World Golf Championship titles. Ogilvy also won the 2008 World Golf Championships-CA Championship, where he will attempt to defend his title at Doral Resort & Spa, March 9-15.

• Ogilvy and Casey both won their first events of the year, Ogilvy at the Mercedes-Benz Championship (Jan. 8-11) on the PGA TOUR and Casey (Jan. 15-18) at the Abu Dhabi Championship on the European Tour.

• Ogilvy now has six PGA TOUR victories in 196 starts, with his first victory also coming in the Tucson area. Ogilvy won the 2005 Chrysler Classic of Tucson at Tucson National Golf Club, when he defeated Mark Calcavecchia and Kevin Na in a playoff.

• Ogilvy collects 550 FedExCup points, thrusting him into the lead with 1175.50 points.

• With the winner's check of $1.4 million, Ogilvy jumped four spots and now leads the 2009 money list with $2,672,077 surpassing $2 million for the fourth consecutive season. Ogilvy now has $18,978,702 in PGA TOUR career earnings.

• Not only does Ogilvy lead the FedExCup and the PGA TOUR money list, he also heads the Race to Dubai with 1,543,168 euros.

• Good Omen for the U.S. Open? When Ogilvy won the 2006 Accenture Match Play Championship, he went on to win the U.S. Open later that year at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York. The 2009 U.S. Open is set to be played at Bethpage Black, also in New York.

• Ogilvy has three victories in three months, starting with the 2008 Australian PGA Championship in early December, the 2009 Mercedes-Benz Championship in January and now the 2009 Accenture Match Play Championship.

• Ogilvy jumped from eighth to fourth on the Official World Golf Rankings with his Accenture Match Play Championship victory. The highest position Ogilvy has held in the rankings was third, after the 2008 Buick Open.

• Ogilvy entered the event third in career money earned at the Accenture Match Play Championship with $2,140,000. With his victory, and the $1.4 million check, Ogilvy passed Toms, and moved into second place on the list with $3,540,000. Tiger Woods is the No. 1 money earner at the Accenture Match Play Championship with $4,712,500, including the $95,000 he earned after being eliminated by Tim Clark in the second round.

• Ogilvy jumped from ninth to second in total World Golf Championship event earnings with $5,442,333 and is one of just nine players who have earned more than $4 million in World Golf Championship events. Of the other eight players on this list, all but Henrik Stenson (15) have played 24 events or more. This is just the 10th WGC event Ogilvy has contested. Woods leads the money earned in WGC events with $20,920,833 from 30 starts.

• Ogilvy played 121 holes this year compared to Casey's 113 holes. In 2006 when he won the title, Ogilvy played a total of 129 holes.

• Ogilvy is the only Australian to reach the Championship Final, and has the most finals appearances in a four-year stretch in tournament history.

• Casey and Ogilvy are both Scottsdale, Ariz., residents and both play out of Whisper Rock Golf Club. The pair made a visit to The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club (Dove Mountain) two weeks before the tournament for a practice round. Casey attended Arizona State University, where he broke the scoring record held by Woods (18 under par) with a 23-under-par 265 in the 2000 Pac-10 Championships. Other records he has broken include the scoring average for Arizona State University, previously held by Phil Mickelson.

• Casey earned a career-best finish on the PGA TOUR even though he was defeated by Ogilvy. His second-place finish was better than his previous-best, a tie for fourth at the 2006 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. Casey now has seven top-10 finishes at World Golf Championship events.

• In their only previous meeting at the Accenture Match Play Championship, Casey was defeated by Ogilvy, 5 and 4, in the Quarterfinals in 2007. It was his previous best performance (tied for fifth) at this event. Ogilvy lost the Championship Match to Stenson, 2 and 1, that year.

• Casey advanced 10 positions on the Official World Golf Rankings, rising from No. 23 to No. 13, with his second-place finish. His previous highest ranking was 12th in April, 2007.

• Casey had never made it past the first-round in four consecutive years from 2003-2006.

• With Casey's victory over Ross Fisher in Saturday afternoon's Semifinal match, it marked the first time in tournament history that an Englishman had reached the final of the Accenture Match Play Championship. No English player has ever won a World Golf Championship event.

• The only other time the Championship Match has featured two International players was 2007 when Henrik Stenson defeated Ogilvy, 2 and 1.

Breakdown of 2009 field of 64 players:
To start the first round:
International players: 47
United States players: 17
Countries represented: 19 (ties the most in tournament history -- 2006)
Largest international contingent: Australia and South Africa, 8 each

The Championship Final went true to form with no "upset," as did the Third-Place Match: Ogilvy (No. 8) over Casey (No. 23): Cink (No. 21) over Fisher (No. 38).

Ross Fisher & Stewart Cink
Cink def. Fisher, 1-up

• Fisher was 2-up after three holes, winning the second hole with an eagle 3. The match was all-square at the turn and still all-square after 17 holes before Cink closed out the match, 1-up, by holing a bunker shot for birdie at the 18th hole.

• Fisher jumped from No. 38 to No. 28 on the Official World Golf Rankings with his defeat at the hands of Cink, who advanced six spots to No. 16.

• This was Fisher's first start at the Accenture Match Play Championship, earning $490,000 for his fourth-place finish. He played two WGC events last year, earning a total of $97,500.

• Cink collected $600,000 for his 1-up victory in the Third-Place Match, but remains in fourth-place in career earnings at WGC events behind Woods, Ogilvy and Vijay Singh. Toms is fifth.