Ogilvy leader of the pack

He holds off stars; Woods T-5 at Doral

Geoff Ogilvy acknowledges a par putt on the 18th hole at the CA Championship; he finished at 17-under 271, one better Retief Goosen, Jim Furyk, and Vijay Singh. (Hans Deryk/Reuters)

DORAL, Fla. - Never would he run from the challenge that is the incomparable Tiger Woods, but it occurred to Geoff Ogilvy that in his pursuit of the CA Championship, he was faced with another layer of competition.

Try three of the world's top 10 players and a fourth who owns two US Open titles.

"Holding off that group is pretty nice. There was a fair bit of some talent on the leaderboard," said Ogilvy, whose wire-to-wire victory in the $8 million World Golf Championship event at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa needed a fifth day but was nailed down yesterday.

Ogilvy completed a fourth-round 1-under-par 71 to finish at 17-under 271, one better than a star-studded trio of Retief Goosen (68), Jim Furyk (68), and Vijay Singh (68).

Yet it was the lad who finished tied for fifth and just two back who seemingly put the most pressure on Ogilvy. That's because when Woods (68) is within view, the landscape changes. Ogilvy accepts part of why that's true, though he struggles with other aspects of it.

"It's frustrating that everyone in the world basically says, 'No one else is trying,' " he said. "We are trying. He's just good."

This week, Ogilvy was better, thanks in large part to his torrid first two rounds (65-67), and thanks in smaller degrees to the fact that those marquee challengers ran out of holes.

"You want to always win every one you play in," said Woods, who was in position to do just that in 2008. He had won each of his three previous starts to run his PGA Tour winning streak to five, but an indifferent third-round 72 and some inexplicable putting woes had left him in position to hope for some luck.

One could argue that the planets are rarely aligned against Woods, but they were this time, and yesterday's resumption of Round 4 offered perfect proof, because even Ogilvy said he never thought he could win by making nine consecutive pars.

"I thought 18 or 19 under, or 20 under, really," said the 30-year-old Aussie. "I mean, who knows?"

When Ogilvy resumed at the par-5 10th, he led Furyk and Singh by two, Goosen and Graeme Storm by three, and Adam Scott was within four. Woods? He was five back, though when he birdied his first hole of the day, the par-5 12th, rumbles of excitement could be felt.

Ogilvy had his lead trimmed to one when Singh, paired with the Aussie, birdied 10. By the time Ogilvy missed decent birdie chances at the 10th, 11th, and 12th and stood on the tee at the par-3 13th, he still led Singh by one, though up ahead, Woods had birdied the par-3 15th to push to 14 under, within three.

Then it was Ogilvy who cashed in with a fortunate shot at the 13th, which came about the same time Woods was on the short end of a miserable lie in a greenside bunker after trying to drive the 372-yard, par-4 16th.

At the 245-yard 13th, Ogilvy missed the green left with a 2-iron, then out of a funky lie fluffed his next shot. The ball remained in the rough, and when his wedge shot came out hot, there were visions of it rolling quite a distance past the flagstick.

"At least 15 feet, probably," said Ogilvy. "It was moving pretty good, I think."

The ball hopped once, hit the flagstick squarely, and dropped into the hole, leaving Ogilvy to laugh softly to himself.

"I guess that's why you want to hit it straight," he said.

For a moment, images of a double bogey had entered the picture, a mishap that could have dropped Ogilvy to 15 under and tied him with Woods, if Woods could birdie 16. Instead, Ogilvy somehow had saved par, Woods had failed to make a 30-foot birdie roll at the 16th, and even more good fortune entered the Aussie's world when Singh bogeyed the 13th and par-4 14th.

Having started the week with birdies on five of his first eight holes, Ogilvy had been wearing the yellow jersey for a good stretch, and as he came down the home stretch, he had a good idea of what the stalwarts ahead of him were doing.

Woods had birdied the par-4 17th to push to 15 under, while two-time US Open champ Goosen had birdied the 14th and 16th to get within one, at 16 under. Furyk, ranked No. 9 in the world? He had offset a bogey at the 14th with birdies at 15 and 17. Singh, No. 10 in the world, got to 16 under, too, thanks to birdies at the 16th and 17th.

"Everybody is here," said Ogilvy of the major winners and top-ranked players who were on his heels, but he was able to keep his distance with rock-solid pars down the stretch. Though he rolled birdie tries wide at the 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th, Ogilvy stepped to the 18th tee with a one-shot lead and stared down the infamous 467-yard signature hole with water down the left and nasty rough right.

The morning wind was light, the air was heavy, and "it's probably the easiest the tee shot can ever play for me," said the Aussie, who was dead-center with a 302-yard blast, then on the green with an 8-iron from 171 yards.

With a deft lag putt, Ogilvy was assured of 17 under, then he watched as Singh failed to reach that mark when a pitch shot from the fringe stayed inches shy. Challenges from within the top 10 had been handled, not so much with a finishing flair as a steely determination, and Ogilvy was free to accept the $1,440,000 prize, safe in the knowledge that he's just the third player to win at least two WGC events, his other the 2006 Accenture Match Play.

Later in 2006, Ogilvy won the US Open, but that dramatic victory is perhaps best known as the tournament Phil Mickelson squandered. Just Ogilvy's luck that this gritty victory may resonate more as the tournament in which Woods's latest winning streak came to an end.

The affable Aussie merely smiled. If that's true, so be it, because he knows what he accomplished, and more important, he knows at whose expense he did so.

"It's pretty nice to come in in front of them and end the streak," said Ogilvy. "It was going to end at some point. I'm very glad that I did it."

Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.

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