Justin Leonard claimed his first PGA Tour victory in nearly two years at the $4,7-million Bob Hope Classic on Sunday as fellow American Joe Ogilvie’s hopes of a first career win evaporated in the final round.
Leonard, who last won in 2003, posted a five-under-par 67 to win the five-round event played on four desert courses with a score of 28-under 332.
Leonard, who hadn’t won in his previous 43 starts, was three shots off the pace entering Sunday’s final round. He started strong and took advantage of Ogilvie’s shaky play to finish three shots clear of Ogilvie and South African Tim Clark.
Leonard birdied three of the first four holes and started the back nine with a pair of birdies to take command.
”It was a lot of fun to get off to the start that I did, being three-under through four holes,” Leonard said. ”Obviously I was hoping to catch Joe at some point. I didn’t think I’d be able to make up the ground as fast as I did.”
Meanwhile, Ogilvie’s round fell apart with bogeys on two of his first three holes, and after a double-bogey on 10, he could not recover.
”The rain dance didn’t work last night. I was trying for a rain-out but it didn’t happen,” Ogilvie said. ”I’m pretty happy. I certainly didn’t play the way I would have liked today, but I got a pretty good front-row seat for a great round of golf.”
With Leonard playing well from the start and Ogilvie trying to go wire-to-wire for his first PGA victory, the pressure became a factor.
”Justin played well, and I think it certainly put Peter [Lonard] and I under the gun a little bit,” Ogilvie admitted. ”We just weren’t up to the challenge.”
Defending champion Phil Mickelson carded a 71 and finished tied for 12th at 21-under.
”I ended up birdying five par fives but it was the other holes that I wasn’t able to make birdies and I made some mistakes,” Mickelson said. ”I really thought that the scores, that some of the guys were going to come back, and they did, except Justin just took off and played some tremendous golf.”
Leonard was steady once he gained the lead, finishing with seven consecutive pars to post his ninth career victory.
”You know, a 62 or 63 really wasn’t possible today. I think 66 was the lowest round and there was just one of those,” Leonard said. ”On the back nine, I was able to aim more for the centre of the greens and just try to avoid that canal and avoid the rocks and cruise a little bit, which was nice.” — Sapa-AFP