Thursday, January 15, 2009

Ogilvy looks to pull off the Hawaii double

Geoff Ogilvy got his PGA TOUR season off to the perfect start with a six-shot victory at the Mercedes-Benz Championship last weekend.

It was his fifth victory in five years, but the 31-year-old Australian has had only one multiple-win season, that coming in 2006 when he won the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and the U.S. Open.

Geoff Ogilvy
Badz/PGA TOUR
Geoff Ogilvy could become the first player since Ernie Els in 2003 to win both events in Hawaii.

After Kapalua last week, he's stayed in Hawaii for the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club, even though his odds of winning are slim.

Five winners at Kapalua this decade didn't win again for the rest of the season.

"It's probably just a coincidence," Ogilvy said on Wednesday. "Might be a bit of complacency. When you get to the top of the money list after one week, you get all excited, maybe you take the rest of the year for granted. Hopefully, I can change the trend so the coincidences go away."

Or he could be like Ernie Els in 2003 and sweep the Hawaii events.

Els and Adam Scott are back at Waialae but among the missing will be Vijay Singh, who had surgery on his right knee on Wednesday.

K.J. Choi is the defending champion, winning last year by three shots despite becoming the first Sony Open winner in 41 years who failed to break par in the final round. That was a tribute to the wind, which can blow on Oahu as much as it does on Maui.

Tadd Fujikawa was one of two teenagers in the field, playing for the Sony Open for the third straight year. The 18-year-old high school student earned his spot on Monday in a qualifier across the island at Turtle Bay. The other was 14-year-old Lorens Chan, who earned the exemption set aside for the top amateur in Hawaii.

In the 144-man field, 76 have never won a PGA TOUR event. Of the 26 rookies at Waialae, 10 of them will be teeing it up in a tour event for the first time ever.

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