Geoff Ogilvy has a record of 20 wins and five losses in 25 US PGA Tour matchplay matches. He has won his matches at an 80-percent clip.
The Melburnian won his first US Tour matchplay tournament in his initial try, taking the 2006 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship with six consecutive match victories on his way to the title. The next year, in defence of his crown, Ogilvy lost in the final to Sweden’s Henrik Stenson, 2&1. After a first-round loss to Justin Leonard in 2008 – only his second match loss – Ogilvy came back strong in 2009, taking down, in succession, Rory McIlroy (quarter-finals), Stewart Cink (semi-finals) and Paul Casey (final) to win the Accenture Match Play for a second time. Among players who have played at least 20 matches, Ogilvy’s 80-percent winning percentage ties him for third on the all-time US Tour matchplay list behind only Walter Burkemo’s 81.2-percent success rate (26-6).
Ogilvy has to be the most successful Australian matchplay exponent in history, right?
Well, there is the resume of Jim Ferrier, the Sydneysider who grew up in Manly and brought his game to America in 1940 when he made his pro debut at the St Augustine Pro-Am in Florida and the Masters Tournament three weeks later.
Where Ferrier really stamped his name in PGA Tour history, however, was at the US PGA Championship, beginning in 1946. In those days, what has become considered one of golf’s four major championships, was decided at matchplay, where Ferrier compiled an 18-7 record in his eight appearances in the event between 1946 and 1953. In Ferrier’s tournament debut, at Portland Golf Club in Oregon, he rolled past Sam Schneider and Lawson Little before dropping a 3&2 decision to Jimmy Demaret in the quarter-finals. Ferrier’s crowning moment came a year later at Plum Hollow Country Club in Detroit. He won six consecutive matches and defeated Chick Harbert for the championship, 2&1. In that final, 35-hole match, Ferrier putted only 52 times and pushed past Harbert over the final 18 holes after the two played to a standstill through the morning’s first 18 holes.
Ferrier had what many will argue was a Hall of Fame career. He won 18 US PGA Tour titles, while adding an additional 10 victories in Australia, most notably back-to-back Australian Opens in 1938 and 1939. The tall, 193-centimetre Ferrier died in California in 1986.
2017 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play brackets set
To be even more current, let’s not forget about Jason Day, who, like Ogilvy, has twice won the US Tour’s only current matchplay tournament. Day, now the world’s No.3-ranked player, certainly factors into the Australian discussion, not only because of his position in the Official World Golf Ranking but because Day won the 2014 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona and then captured the tournament a second time a year ago after officials renamed the tournament (Dell Match Play) and moved it to its current location of Austin, Texas. Day cruised to a 5&4 victory over South Africa’s Louis Oosthuizen in the 2016 final. He took down France’s Victor Dubuisson in extra holes in 2014, winning on the 23rd hole. The only clunker in Day’s matchplay history came in 2015 when he lost all three of his matches. His career match record is 14-6 (70 percent).
This week, matchplay returns to the tour, when 64 players compete for the Walter Hagen Cup at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play at the par-71 Austin Country Club. Dustin Johnson and McIlroy, Nos. 1 and 2 in the OWGR, are the favourites, with Day, obviously, right in the mix.
Day summed up his approach to matchplay a year ago as he was making his run at a second title. When he falls behind in matches, it’s never a doom-and-gloom scenario.
“I think the biggest thing for me is to understand even though I may be down, you’re never out of the fight. You can always find a way to get it done,” Day explained. “Not only playing these matches and being in the heat of the battle, I see it as I want to win this tournament. But I see it as great experience going forward, too, because you can’t simulate what we feel out there unless you’re in contention on a Sunday. And to be able to feel that emotion and the feelings that go through your body from Wednesday all the way through to Sunday is very important and crucial to the development of my game.”
In history, 27 Australians have competed in US PGA Tour matchplay tournaments, starting with Joe Kirkwood, Snr, playing in the 1923 US PGA Championship. While Adam Scott leads the way, with 29 matches played, Geoff Ogilvy has both the most match wins (20) and the best winning percentage for players with at least 10 matches played (80 percent). Interestingly, World Golf Hall of Fame members Peter Thomson, Kel Nagle and David Graham never played in a US Tour matchplay tournament.
Here is the complete list:
Player Record %
Bruce Crampton 4-1 80.0
Geoff Ogilvy 20-5 80.0
Jim Ferrier 18-7 72.0
Jason Day 14-6 70.0
Nick O’Hern 11-5 68.7
Joe Kirkwood Jnr 3-2 60.0
Marc Leishman 3-2 60.0
Stephen Leaney 6-5 54.5
Aaron Baddeley 4-4 50.0
Marcus Fraser 1-1 50.0
Mathew Goggin 1-1 50.0
Wayne Grady 1-1 50.0
Joe Kirkwood Snr 9-9 50.0
Peter O’Malley 1-1 50.0
Adam Scott 14-15 48.2
Robert Allenby 9-11 45.0
John Senden 2-3 40.0
Rod Pampling 3-5 37.5
Craig Parry 3-5 37.5
Stuart Appleby 6-11 35.2
Mark Hensby 1-2 33.3
Matt Jones 1-2 33.3
Greg Norman 1-2 33.3
Greg Chalmers 0-2 0.0
Bruce Devlin 0-1 0.0
Steve Elkington 0-3 0.0
Brendan Jones 0-3 0.0
Michael Sim 0-1 0.0
