Victorian Geoff Ogilvy has finally ended his four-year long victory drought by taking out the Barracuda Championship in Nevada – but Adam Scott has been toppled as world No.1 after British Open champion Rory McIlroy stormed to his second win in a row in the rich Bridgestone Invitational.
Ogilvy notched his eighth PGA TOUR title, scoring five points with an eagle on the par five 13th to pull away for a five-point win in the Modified Stableford event.
Players receive eight points for double eagle, five for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus-one for bogey and minus-three for double bogey or worse.
Ogilvy, the 2006 U.S. Open winner, added birdies on the 14th and 18th to finish with 49 points. He had 14 points in the final round with the eagle, five birdies and a bogey.
The 37-year-old was making his first appearance at Montreux in Reno since 2002 after failing to qualify for the World Golf Championship Bridgestone tournament. He entered the week with only two top-25 finishes this season and was 151st in the FedEx Cup standings.
He said he was in two minds about teeing up after returning from a long trip from Canada but the effort has earned him 300 FedExCup points as well as a spot next week in the PGA Championship at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky.
Justin Hicks was second at 44 points after an 18-point day.
John Huh and Jonathan Byrd tied for third at 37. They each had 11-point rounds.
Nick Watney, three points behind Ogilvy entering the final day after leading after each of the first two rounds, tied for eighth at 34 points. He had three birdies and four bogey in a two-point round.
Meanwhile, in Akron, Ohio, McIlroy usurped Scott as the world’s top player once again after storming past Spaniard Sergio Garcia to win the Bridgestone by two shots.
Victoria’s Marc Leishman made a desperate charge at the lead but finished third after a three-under 67 left him 12-under par, three shots behind the Northern Irishman.
McIlroy, who started the final round three shots behind Garcia, fired a four-under 66 to finish at 15-under. Garcia stumbled to a one-over 71, falling to 13-under and into second place.
With McIlroy’s win, Scott needed to be fifth alone or better to hold his No.1 spot but his 71 left him at seven-under and in a tie for eighth place, ending his run at the top at 11 weeks.
McIlroy birdied the opening three holes and took over the lead when Garcia dropped a shot at the third.
The lead then see-sawed between the pair before McIlroy picked up a stroke at the 11th and Garcia bogeyed the 15th. Safe regulation pars to complete the homeward nine gave McIlroy victory.
Leishman had birdied the second and third holes but slipped with a bogey at the fourth and then the sixth where he had no choice but to take a penalty from deep rough.
He fought back with birdies at the seventh and eighth holes and picked up another at the 12th before his drive on the 14th sailed into deep rough, resulting in another bogey.
But a birdie at the 16th gave Leishman outright third as he continues to show dramatic potential in the elite tour events.
Scott dropped out of contention and the world No.1 spot when he bogeyed the 14th, 15th and 16th holes.
Eight-time winner and defending champion Tiger Woods withdrew after eight and a half holes with a back injury, putting his place in next week’s US PGA Championship under a cloud.
John Senden tied for 26th at two under, while Matt Jones was one under and Steven Bowditch two-over par.
By: Robert Grant