Match Play mastery moves Ogilvy to fourth in world

Geoff Ogilvy's convincing victory in the WGC Match Play Championship vaulted him to fourth in the world rankings, but the unassuming Aussie remained reluctant to rank himself among golf's best.

"That's not really for me to decide ... where I sit in the pecking order," said Ogilvy, whose second career victory in the Match Play gave him his third title in the elite World Golf Championships series.

Already owner of one major title, the 2006 US Open, Ogilvy nabbed his second US title of the year after his wire-to-wire victory in the season-opener in Hawaii.

That triumph came on the heels of his Australian PGA Championship victory in December.

Ogilvy, 31, marched to a 4 and 3 victory over England's Paul Casey on Sunday, wrapping up the victory in the scheduled 36-hole final with three holes to spare.

He led from the start and didn't make a bogey all day as Casey, who boasts a strong match play pedigree himself, tried in vain to break through.

Even so, Ogilvy, who came into the week ranked eighth in the world, could think of a number of golfers he'd consider in front of himself, a list topped, of course, by world number one Tiger Woods.

US star Phil Mickelson, Ireland's three-time major winner Padraig Harrington and Spain's Sergio Garcia also came to his mind, although Garcia has yet to win a major or a WGC title.

"I'm in that area somewhere," he said vaguely. "Tiger, Phil, Padraig, and then I'm in the next bunch, probably."

Casey said Ogilvy's modesty may account for why he's often overlooked by golf pundits as well.

"Geoff is a quiet guy," said Casey, a friend and neighbor of the Aussie in Scottsdale, Arizona. "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."

Ogilvy, whose win put him atop both the US Tour's FedEx Cup points race and the European Tour's Race for Dubai, said his success since December followed a break from golf, which in turn followed a disappointing run of performances from a missed cut at the British Open to his failure to qualify for the US Tour Championship.

"I was pretty grumpy with golf at that point," he said. "At least six weeks off. And then ever since I've done that I haven't over-played, I haven't over-practised and I've just tried to really enjoy it.

"It still comes and goes," he said. "(But) when you're playing well, confidence just builds."

Ogilvy said there was still room for improvement.

"I still think I can be a better player - a better player when I'm playing badly.

"Tiger, he wins tournaments when he's playing badly. I don't get anywhere remotely close to winning a tournament when I'm playing badly. So those aspects I think I can do a lot of improvement."

TUCSON, Arizona, AFP