Ogilvy In Command At Australian Open

Sydney - December 4, 2010: Following another solid round of five-under par at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney, Victorian Geoff Ogilvy is one round away from capturing his second Australian title.

Extending his lead over the rest of the field, Ogilvy leads the Australian Open presented by Century 21 by five shots. He leads over Matt Jones (71) in second , while Greg Chalmers (66) and Alistair Presnell (67) are a further shot back in equal third at 10-under.

2006 Australian Open champion John Senden (70) is lurking in equal 5th at nine-under alongside Matthew Griffin (72), while American David Oh (67) and Bronson La’Cassie (68) share seventh at eight-under.

But with only 18 holes of play left in the 2010 Australian Open presented by Century 21, the tournament which is co-sanctioned by OneAsia and the PGA of Australasia looks to be firmly in the hands of Ogilvy.

Trading birdies with his playing partner for the duration of the front nine, it wasn’t until Jones bogeyed the seventh that Ogilvy looked to have the tournament firmly in his control.

Ogilvy’s game couldn’t be faulted until the final hole of the day when the World Number 43 missed the 18th green on approach to finish with the only bogey of his round.

“It’s never nice to finish like that no matter what you shoot,” said Ogilvy after his round, although it didn’t take him long to look at the positives.“I feel I played well and made the most of the day.”

“I’ve been blessed so far- I haven’t had to hit a shot in the rain.”

Having captured the Australian PGA Championship in 2008 tomorrow Ogilvy will look to claim his second PGA Tour of Australasia title and his first on OneAsia.

“It will be hard not to think about it," he said. "The Australian Open in general has a pretty impressive honour roll…so it would be a nice one to get.”

Korean Tour regular David Oh of USA enjoyed a bogey-free round finishing with a three-under 67 to tie seventh with Australia's Bronson La'cassie. He birdied five-times on the front nine, with a short game featuring a 12-foot putt on the ninth hole and a 40-foot putt on the twelfth.

"There's something special about Australia for me. I feel really good and relaxed and seem to play well here," he said, referring to his performance in last year's Australian Open where he shared a joint fifth after the third round.

"The Australian Open has a great tournament feel and I was having fun out there so I really wasn't thinking too much until I sunk the 12-foot birdie on the ninth. That was a pleasant surprise and I started to look at the scoreboard a bit, which is probably why I didn't do as well on the back nine.

"I also hit the ball left in the trees on 12 but I managed to make a 35-40 foot par there so I really got away with that one. My short game felt solid."

Fellow American-Korean John Huh carded a 69 for the day to tie 17th with Australians Rohan Blizzard, Michael Campbell, Peter Senior and Steven Bowditch.

The Australian Open presented by Century 21 is the penultimate tournament on both the PGA Tour of Australasia and OneAsia and is being played at The Lakes Golf Club (par 72) from Thursday 2nd - Sunday 5th December 2010.