Quiet man Ogilvy will be a big noise

But his ascendancy in recent months to a present position of No 4 in the world after winning the Accenture Match Play Championship is significant at a time when Tiger Woods’ ability to regain his former supremacy remains far from clear.

Woods was rusty after eight months out of the game to recover from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He missed pressure putts in his third-round defeat by South Africa’s Tim Clark, he struggled with distance using his irons and he leaked drives to the right consistently. One drive ended up out of bounds in the Sonoran Desert, all so unlike the old Tiger who has won 14 Majors.

Since he took a two-month break last September, Ogilvy has won three out of the eight tournaments in which he has played and his 4&3 victory on Sunday over Ryder Cup stalwart Paul Casey in the final made him the first Australian golfer since Adam Scott to break into the world’s top four.

“Geoff is a quiet guy and maybe that’s why he doesn’t get the attention or the recognition he deserves,” said Casey.

“He’s a phenomenal golfer. How many guys have won two World Golf Championships events?” Ogilvy has actually won three, two Match Play titles and the CA Championship which he will defend next week at Doral. Woods, who will be in the field, is the only player to have won more WGC tournaments, the most prestigious outside of the four Majors.

Yet Ogilvy, 31, from Adelaide, is able to sit in the stands at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch his beloved St Kilda Aussie Rules team almost without being recognised. Scott, who has yet to emulate Ogilvy’s feat of winning the US Open in 2006, is a far bigger star in Australia.

Sergio Garcia could overtake Woods in the word rankings with a win in this week’s Honda Classic in Florida followed by a second-or-third-place finish next week at Doral.

But if Ogilvy’s form continues, he could become one of the biggest threats to Woods. “I had a really good break after last year when I tumbled in the FedEx Cup and didn’t make it to the last of the play-offs in Atlanta,” said Ogilvy.

“I was pretty grumpy with golf at that point and I hardly touched a club. Since then I haven’t overplayed and I haven’t over-practised. I’ve just tried to enjoy it.

“I played the best 72 holes I’ve ever played to win the Mercedes-Benz Championship in January and this weekend my form was almost as good as it was in Maui. It has been unbelievable.

“I am probably playing best of all the Australians at the moment but there’s no next Greg Norman and there just won’t be. Charisma, you either have it or you don’t and Greg had it more than most.”