Golf

Erratic Ogilvie keeps his lead at the Hope

By wire services
Published January 30, 2005

LA QUINTA, Calif. - Although different parts of Joe Ogilvie's game have come and gone in this event, he has held it together to stay in front.

His short game was solid and his tee shots shaky much of the first three rounds of the five-day Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, but things changed Saturday, when he shot 3-under 69. At 26-under 262, the front-running Ogilvie maintained a two-shot lead over Peter Lonard.

"Yesterday I drove it extremely poorly. Today I drove it extremely well," Ogilvie said. "Yesterday I hit a lot of good iron shoots and putted well. Today I hit no decent iron shots and hit a lot of good putts but didn't give myself a lot of opportunities."

The key to his 69, by three shots his highest round of the first four days, was the way he mastered the par 5s at La Quinta Country Club. He rolled in a 12-foot putt for eagle after reaching the green with a 3-wood on the 512-yard 11th, and he sank shorter birdie putts on two other par 5s.

Ogilvie, who has appeared relaxed the entire tournament while either tied or alone atop the leaderboard, smiled and waved to the crowd when his eagle putt dropped. He narrowly missed birdie putts on several other holes.

"I had four or five lip-outs, but they were all from 18 to 25 feet, so I really didn't hit the ball great with my irons, which kind of surprised me," said Ogilvie, looking for his first PGA Tour victory.

Lonard shot 69 to remain alone in second place. Former British Open champion Justin Leonard was another stroke back after 64 left him 23 under. Today's final round is at PGA West.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson, who also won the Hope in 2002, shot 68 and was in a group at 268, six shots back.

Ogilvie's best finish on the tour was a second-place tie with Mickelson at New Orleans last year.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Four-time defending champion Hale Irwin shot a bogey-free 66 for a two-stroke lead over Allen Doyle (67) in the Turtle Bay Championship in Kahuku, Hawaii. Irwin, also the first-round leader, is trying for his sixth victory overall at Turtle Bay, the tour's first full-field event of the year. Irwin had six birdies to move to 11-under 133.

EUROPEAN PGA TOUR: Nick Dougherty shot 4-under 68 to remain in first place through three rounds at the Caltex Masters in Singapore. Dougherty was at 13-under 203, two strokes ahead of defending champion Colin Montgomerie (69) and Thomas Bjorn (67) in the event co-sanctioned by the European and Asian tours.

[Last modified January 30, 2005, 00:11:11]