Geoff Ogilvy took a firm grip on the World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play final with a healthy lead over Paul Casey.
Ogilvy, the 2006 champion and 2007 runner-up, was three up after 18 holes of the 36 hole final at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club.
"It was a bit of shaky start for me," Casey admitted. "Geoff has played very, very solid golf and hasn't given anything away."
And the Australian extended his advantage after the restart to go four up through 25 holes.
That shaky start saw Casey miss from four feet for birdie at the first after Ogilvy had already holed from six feet, the first time at any point this week the Englishman had trailed in a match.
Casey missed another short putt on the severely undulating greens, this time at the sixth to go two down.
Ogilvy increased the pressure by winning the eighth and ninth as well to go four up before the three time Ryder Cup player halted the Australian's momentum in spectacular fashion, holing out at the par four tenth hole with his second shot from 204 yards for an eagle.
The par five 11th hole saw a remarkable chain of events with Casey having to lay up following an errant tee shot into a fairway bunker.
Ogilvy was in trouble after pulling his second shot into the desert and the jaws of a cactus, but after a penalty drop hit his fourth shot just short of the green.
Casey still looked favourite but could only look on as Ogilvy chipped in for an unlikely par to restore his four hole lead, Casey's par putt from 15 feet shaving the edge of the hole.
The 2006 US Open champion did see his lead cut at the par five 13th when Casey holed his first birdie putt of the match, but Ogilvy got the upper hand at the par three 16th.
Casey missed a long range birdie attempt but Ogilvy made no mistake from 14ft to go four up once more.
The Australian continued to play aggressively, hitting his approach to the 17th to 11 feet but Casey responded superbly, his approach rolling to within five feet of the hole.
Casey was denied an opportunity to win the hole when Ogilvy sank his putt, leaving the Englishman his putt to halve the hole and move on to the 18th still four down.
Casey gave himself a boost heading into the lunch break when he won the 18th with a birdie three from 11 feet.
Stewart Cink and Ross Fisher teed off an 18 hole match for third place before the finalists began their second round in search of the first prize of US$ 1,400,000.
Both Ogilvy and Casey had won their first events of 2009, Ogilvy at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii and Casey at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.
Yet Ogilvy looked the most likely to add a second title of the year, getting off to the best possible start after the break when he birdied the first for the second time today to reopen a four hole lead.
That did not last for long, however, as Casey bounced back to win the 20th hole with a birdie four.
Casey had a 15ft putt to win the 21st hole but had to settle for a share of the spoils and remained three down as temperatures in the desert reached into the mid 80s.
Casey's putter was getting just as hot as he rolled in a birdie putt from 40ft at the 22nd, but Ogilvy simply rolled in his own birdie putt from close range for a half.
In the battle for third place Cink and Fisher are all square at the turn.
