SBS Championship, Round 4

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Geoff Ogilvy
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Geoff Ogilvy successfully defended his title at the SBS Championship, finishing at 22 under at Kapalua.
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Jan. 10, 2010
By PGATOUR.COM Staff

BACK-TO-BACK (10 p.m.): At one point in his career, Geoff Ogilvy didn't even like Kapalua. That was early in his career, though, and right after they re-did the greens at Kapalua. The weather was surprisingly poor, too. Now? He can't miss. For the second year in a row, Ogilvy went 20-plus under (22 under this year, 24 under in 2009) to win.

Earlier in the week, Ogilvy, among others, talked about how No. 1 in the Official World Golf Rankings might be up in the air with Tiger Woods out indefinitely. That obviously depends how long Woods is out, but Ogilvy is certainly off to a great start. He also takes the early lead in the race for the FedExCup with 500 points.

Ogilvy has been knocking on the door of being a truly great player for a couple of years, but he lacked the consistency. The first tournament of 2010 is out of the way. Now we'll see what he can do for an encore the rest of the year. -- Brian Wacker

OGILVY CLOSING IN (9:35 p.m.): Geoff Ogilvy's lead is still just one, but he's also down to one hole left, the par-5 18th. For Ogilvy, unless something disastrous happens, it'll be his second-straight win here. The last player to repeat at Kapalua was fellow Aussie Stuart Appleby, who won three in a row from 2004-2006. -- Brian Wacker

OGILVY ON TOP (9:10 p.m.): Sure enough, Rory Sabbatini's problem was that he simply ran out of holes. The clubhouse leader at 21 under thanks to the round of the tournament, all Sabbatini can do is watch now. Geoff Ogilvy, meanwhile, has overtaken him on the course, getting to 22 under with three holes to play. Ogilvy's been near-perfect, missing just one green in regulation and making one bogey. Now he just has to be careful not to falter the way Sean O'Hair just did. O'Hair just blew his second shot on the par-5 18th into the hazard, and his chances, too. -- Brian Wacker

GOING THE OTHER WAY (8:50 p.m.): While Rory Sabbatini was busy chasing a course record, Lucas Glover, who had a three-shot lead at the start of the day, was headed the other direction. Currently, he's on pace for the worst round of the day as one of only three players over par at 4 over.

Glover got off to a slow start for the second-straight day, but this time was unable to recover. He did have three birdies on the front nine, but those were offset by two bogeys and a double. Things only got worse on the back nine, beginning with a bogey on No. 10 that was followed by another double on the 14th. Once again, Glover's been bitten by poor putting. Yesterday, he took 35 putts. Today? He has 28 through 14 holes. Going wire-to-wire can be draining and we may be seeing that in Glover's game the last two rounds. -- Brian Wacker

SABBATINI IN WITH 63 (8:28 p.m.): It wasn't a course record, but Rory Sabbatini will take it, even if he was probably disappointed with a par on the par-5 finishing hole. For now, his 21-under total puts him in the lead, one shot clear of Geoff Ogilvy, who still has six holes to play.

Sabbatini had a chance to win here in 2001, but he missed a painfully short putt from 3 1/2-feet that would have sent the tournament into extra holes. Will he get a long-awaited shot at redemption? Well, he certainly put himself in position today. He missed just two fairways and two greens all day, needing just 27 putts (more importantly, 1.563 putts per green in regulation).

Now it's a waiting game for Sabbatini. Can anyone catch him? We'll find out in the next hour. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Sabbatini's scorecard from today. Click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker.

0110ogilvycard.jpg

A PERFECT 10 (8:10 p.m.): Rory Sabbatini is apparently trying to match the scoring level of that Arizona Cardinals-Green Bay Packers NFL playoff game that just ended. Sabbatini just made his 10th birdie of the day and seventh over the last nine holes, to get to 10 under for the day and 21 under for the week -- one shot clear of second-place Geoff Ogilvy (for the moment). The Cardinals and Packers combined for a playoff record 96 points and now Sabbatini is in position for a record as well. If Sabbatini can birdie the par-5 18th -- something he's done each of the last two days -- he'll tie the course record set by K.J. Choi in 2003. -- Brian Wacker

BIRDIE BARRAGE ENDS (7:55 p.m.): Rory Sabbatini's run of birdies -- and likely chances of a course record -- just ended with a par on the par-4 16th, where his approach shot sailed just off the back of the green. Meanwhile, defending champion Geoff Ogilvy is just one back after making the turn at 3 under. He's since added a par on No. 10. Still plenty of golf left to be played. -- Brian Wacker

COURSE RECORD (7:45 p.m.): In case you're wondering, the course record at Kapalua is a 62, shot by K.J. Choi in 2003. Choi finished second that year to Ernie Els, who set the tournament record at 31 under. Rory Sabbatini is within striking distance of that course record 9 under with three holes to play. He's birdied his last five holes and six of the last seven. Click here to follow the rest of his round live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker

SUPER SCORING (7:25 p.m.): The birdies are flying today at Kapalua, no pun intended. Especially for Rory Sabbatini, who just drove the par-4 14th before eventually posting his fourth straight birdie to get to 8 under for the day and 19 under for the week. That's one shot clear of defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, who made a birdie of his own on No. 8. Meanwhile, Sean O'Hair and Kenny Perry, each 4 under on their rounds, are one and two more shots back from that. Lucas Glover? He's now four back after playing the first eight holes in 2 over. -- Brian Wacker

ROR-ING TO THE TOP (7:05 p.m.): Rory Sabbatini has now birdied three of his last four holes to get to 17 under and a share of the lead with Geoff Ogilvy. It's been a stellar ball-striking day for the South African, who has missed just two fairways and only one green while taking 1.545 putts per green in regulation -- his best effort of the week so far. Sabbatini had a chance to win here in 2001, but missed a short putt on the final hole that would have forced a playoff. -- Brian Wacker

TWEET OF THE DAY (6:50 p.m.): With much of the country in a deep freeze, views of Kapalua on the television offer a nice reprieve. So does the view Stewart Cink's wife, Lisa, just posted on her Twitter feed (@lisacink). Click here for a view of the pool at the Ritz-Carlton many of the players and their families are staying at this week. Ten toes up indeed. Her husband isn't faring quite as well at the moment -- Cink is just 1 under through his first six holes today and is currently tied for ninth. -- Brian Wacker

ANOTHER SHOT OF THE DAY CANDIDATE? (6:25 p.m.): If Geoff Ogilvy goes on to win today, his opening birdie could be a big part of the story. The first hole at Kapalua has played as the fourth-most difficult this week, but Ogilvy managed to roll in a 29-footer that helped him grab the top spot all by himself after an early Lucas Glover bogey a few holes later. -- Brian Wacker

SO MUCH FOR HIGH SCORES (6:10 p.m.): Well, just like the trade winds, it didn't take long for conditions to change. What at one point looked like would be a relative high day of scoring seems to be going the other way, at least at the top of the leaderboard with everybody now on the golf course. Geoff Ogilvy has pulled into a share of the lead thanks to an early birdie, while Matt Kuchar and Sean O'Hair are one and two shots back, respectively, thanks to birdies of their own. Even Rory Sabbatini has climbed into the mix. He's 3 under through his first eight holes. -- Brian Wacker

THE RACE IS ONE (5:50 p.m.): Lucas Glover said last night that he knew he'd have to make birdies to win today. So far, Matt Kuchar is making sure of that. It's early in Kuchar's round, but he just made his third birdie in a row to get to 16 under and within one of the lead. All three birdies came thanks to approach shots that landed within 10 feet -- two of them were inside 5 feet -- on Nos. 2, 3 and 4. Kuchar also has yet to miss a fairway or green today and has made just one bogey all week (a double bogey on No. 11). -- Brian Wacker

WINDSWEPT KAPALUA (5:25 p.m.): Unlike the first two days, when there was virtually no wind and conditions were very good for scoring, today will be much like yesterday with the Kona winds kicked up a bit to around 14 mph. In other words, don't expect a lot of low scores.

The first two days, Kapalua played to a sub-70 scoring average each round. Yesterday, that number climbed to 70.321. Today? It's still too early to tell with about one-third of the field still to tee off, but the front-nine scoring average is 35.34. See below for more. -- Brian Wacker

Scoring averages for the Plantation Course
Day Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative
Thursday 34.964 34.893 69.857 --
Friday 34.393 34.786 69.179 69.518
Saturday 34.893 35.429 70.321 69.786

BABY ON BOARD (5:10 p.m.): It's apparently baby time on the PGA TOUR. In addition to Geoff Ogilvy's wife expecting the couple's third child in about five weeks time, Heath Slocum's wife is also due -- Tuesday. Slocum, who hasn't been here since 2006, is currently in last place, but will head back to Atlanta Sunday night as the couple plans to induce labor in a couple of days for what will be their second child. -- Brian Wacker

EARLY SHOT OF THE DAY CANDIDATE (4:50 p.m.): Bo Van Pelt has yet to break 70 this week and didn't do himself any favors with a double bogey on the first hole, but he did get those two strokes back with a pair of birdies on Nos. 2 and 3. The first of those birdies came on the par-3 second hole, where he pitched in from the greenside bunker. Since then, he's added another birdie on the par-4 seventh, where he rolled in a 13-footer. Van Pelt will need to keep making birdies, too, if he wants a top-10 here -- currently he's tied for 23rd at 5 under. -- Brian Wacker

INSIDE THE NUMBERS (4:25 p.m.): More proof that Lucas Glover has been better than everyone else this week, courtesy of PGA TOUR stat maven Alex Turnbull. -- Brian Wacker

Lucas Glover- This Week vs. Field Average vs. 2009 Season
Stat This Week Field Average 2009 Season
Greens in Regulation 91 percent (T1) 83 percent 66 percent (88)
Proximity to the Hole 35 feet (T3) 39 feet 34 feet, 6 inches (T49)
Three-Putts 3 (T17) 4.03% 50 (T101)
Putting 3 to 5 Feet 64 percent (28th) 86 percent 87 percent (102)
Putting Inside 10 Feet 82 percent (20) 86 percent 87 percent (71)
Putts Made Over 10 Feet 7 (T4) 4.39 125 (90)
Total Eagles 3 (1) 11 2 (T162)

OGILVY'S HISTORY (4:10 p.m.): Earlier in the week, we showed the disparity between Geoff Ogilvy's first eight career rounds at Kapalua compared to his last six. One more note about that: In those first eight rounds, he failed to break 70 at the Plantation Course. Since then? Seven straight rounds in the 60s, including scores of 69, 66 and 68 through the first three rounds here this year. If Ogilvy, who is just one back of the lead, continues that trend today, he'll have an excellent shot to win. Ogilvy also hasn't bogeyed any of the first 13 holes at Kapalua. Twelve of his 19 birdies this week, on the other hand, have come within those first 13 holes. If he gets off to another fast start, the pressure will be on Lucas Glover, who conversely has made four of his five bogeys (including a double bogey) on the front nine. -- Brian Wacker

UNFAMILIAR TERRITORY (4 p.m.): The final round is under way at Kapalua, where Lucas Glover is trying to do what Geoff Ogilvy did last year, go wire-to-wire for the win. The guy playing with Glover today? Ogilvy, who is just one shot back.

This, by the way, is the first time that Glover has held the lead entering the final round, but there's little surprise as to why he's in that spot this week. He leads the field in greens in regulation having missed just five of them and, with the exception of the third round, he's been excellent off the tee and on the green.

Yesterday, Glover hit just eight of 15 fairways and took an interminable 35 putts after ranking third-to-last in proximity to the hole on his approach shots. That's been the exception this week, however, as you'll see by the numbers below. Should Glover go on to win, by the way, he'd be just the second player to go the distance since this tournament moved to Kapalua in 1999. -- Brian Wacker

Lucas Glover - Round Comparison
Stat Round 1 Round 2 Round 3
Fairways 14 10 8
Greens 16 16 17
Proximity 26 feet 31 feet 47 feet
Putts 28 feet 28 feet 35 feet
Feet of Putts Made 145 feet 74 feet 47 feet
Longest Putt Made 36 feet 14 feet 8 feet
Score 66 65 71
Groups We're Watching
Tee time Players  
4:20 p.m. ET,
Hole No. 1
Dustin Johnson, Steve Stricker
Both of these players were pre-week favorites, but both are mid-pack heading into Sunday. Does either of them have a 65 in store?
5:20 p.m. ET,
Hole No. 1
Retief Goosen, Stewart Cink
Goosen's 67 in the third round was one of the best of the day and put him only four shots back of leader Lucas Glover.
5:40 p.m. ET,
Hole No. 1
Lucas Glover, Geoff Ogilvy
This pair of former U.S. Open champions are in the final group, with Ogilvy only one back and with a lot of momentum.
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