Ogilvy books Match Play showdown with Casey

TUCSON (AFP) - Geoff Ogilvy rolled to his third final in four starts in the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship Saturday with an emphatic 4 and 2 semi-final victory over Stewart Cink. Australia's Ogilvy had three birdies and an eagle in the last four holes as he pulled away for the victory. It was his second superb finish of the day after he closed out his morning quarter-final against teenage sensation Rory McIlroy with three birdies. In the final, Ogilvy will face Paul Casey, who held off fellow Englishman Ross Fisher 2 and 1 in the other semi-final. Ogilvy, who won the 2006 title in his first appearance in the event, reached the final in 2007 before a first-round exit last year. He seized the advantage at the opening hole, where Cink hit into the cactus and eventually conceded. Ogilvy maintained a slim advantage until the 11th, where he found a fairway bunker off the tee and conceded the hole to square the match. Irked, Ogilvy promptly won 13, 14 and 15 with two birdies and an eagle to seize a 3-up lead with three to play. "I lost that hole and I was a little bit frustrated with that," Ogilvy said. "I decided to bear down and finish as well as I could." The 31-year-old Aussie pitched on at 13 and made a five-foot birdie putt as Cink missed a 10-foot birdie attempt. "I felt like (13) was a pretty significant body blow," Cink said. "Geoff just played spectacular. I feel like I got cut down pretty good. "I would be very surprised if he doesn't win tomorrow," Cink added. Ogilvy drained a 13-foot birdie putt at 14 and at the 343-yard, par-four 15th he stuck his tee shot six feet from the pin and made his eagle putt. He closed it out at the par-three 16th, landing his tee shot within 12 feet of the pin as Cink was right of the green. When Cink's chip rolled past the pin, the American conceded Ogilvy's birdie. "Thirteen through 16, I didn't miss a beat," he said. Ogilvy and Casey, who are neighbors in Scottsdale, Arizona, will play the 36-hole championship match, teeing off at 7:20 am (14:20 GMT). Cink, who was thumped 8 and 7 by Tiger Woods in last year's final, will play Fisher for third place in Sunday's 18-hole consolation final. The winner of the 8.5 million-dollar tournament, first of the elite World Golf Championships events in 2009, will succeed Woods, whose title defence crashed to a halt in the second round. It was an abrupt end to the world number one's highly anticipated return to action after an eight-month absence in the wake of knee surgery. Casey led Fisher all the way, but didn't wrap up the win until a birdie at 17. After a bogey at the first, Fisher fell 2-down with another bogey at the sixth. He narrowed the gap with a birdie at the eighth, but lost the 13th with a bogey. After they halved 14 with double-bogeys, Fisher matched Casey's birdie at 15, then birdied 16 to again fight back to 1-down. But Casey responded with a birdie at 17 to finish the match. "I played very good golf," Casey said. "Made a couple of mistakes. But he played some very good golf coming in. I was under pressure. "I feel very satisfied to hole that birdie putt." Casey had dominated American Sean O'Hair en route to a 4 and 3 victory in the morning quarter-finals. Cink beat South African Ernie Els 2 and 1, while Fisher triumphed 2 and 1 in a tight battle with American Justin Leonard. Ogilvy reached the semi-finals with a 2 and 1 victory over 19-year-old Ulsterman McIlroy, making a splash in his US debut after claiming his first career title at the Dubai Desert Classic earlier this month. "Two pretty satisfying guys to beat," Ogilvy said. "And I guess the most satisfying art was I played my best golf in the last few holes of each match, which is really nice."

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