A SEEMINGLY INNATE sense of timing has always been part of Geoff Ogilvy's career as a tournament professional. Having started the fifth round of his only visit to the European Tour Qualifying School by hitting two balls out of bounds and running up a quadruple bogey, the then 21-year old Australian made a bogey at the second hole before playing the rest of the San Roque course in southern Spain in five under par – "still the most valuable 16 holes of my life," he says – and comforta
That same year Ogilvy finished a lowly 32nd at the Australian Tour Qualifying School at a time when even such a mediocre performance got him into as many as ten events over the following months. One year later, the man who won that same tour school f
ailed to gain entry into any events.
Almost a decade later, Ogilvy is still managing to stay one step ahead of the game, at least when it comes to the more important weeks on the calendar. Over the last 24 months, the now 30-year old from Melbourne has won three tournaments: two World Golf Championships and a US Open. That's called picking your spots.
The third of those three victories came, of course, one week ago at Doral in Florida, when Ogilvy took the CA Championship by one shot, in the process ending Tiger Woods' winning streak at seven.
"It's pretty nice that I was the one to finally beat Tiger," he says. "I'm not going to say I never thought about it on the golf course because I did imagine what it would be like to march into the media centre and say 'look, he's not going to win every tournament this year'. So it was a little more special, especially when I beat him around a place he seems to own. He'd won three tournaments in a row there, the last regular tour event at Doral and the first two WGCs.
"Plus, of the 17 WGC stroke-play events he had played in before last week, he had won 12. That's pretty stellar. So to take one away from him was especially nice." The end result may have been pleasant but the route to success was both long and tedious.
Rain delays during both the third and fourth rounds forced the event into a fifth day, a state of affairs that inevitably weighs heaviest on the man with most to lose, the tournament leader.
"The last thing I wanted was more time to think about what was going on," admits Ogilvy. "Everyone who plays golf knows that the more you think about something the worse it generally gets. So sitting around wasn't great. I just had to sit around and wait because we never knew exactly what was going to happen. My wife and kids came over for a bit.
"But I mostly sat around talking to the guys about stuff guys talk about in locker rooms. Sex and sports basically!
"Having said that, I enjoyed playing in the last group on Saturday, even with the delays. For me, it was an ideal pairing. I play with Adam (Scott] all the time and who doesn't want to play with Tiger in the last group? So that was perfect."
What wasn't so ideal, however, was the weather over the weekend, a fact that had both a meteorological and logistical effect on the tournament.
"They might just have finished on Sunday evening if they had not decided to re-pair everyone for the last 18 holes," reveals Ogilvy.
"But Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh had played great having teed off really early. They would have been going out first in the last round and only been a couple of shots off the lead. So that would have been weird, especially if they had finished on Sunday and the last groups did not.
"You could have had the winner having to wait around until Monday morning, yet not hit a shot.
"Still, all of that toing and froing was the reason I was able to shoot 71 and still win. Before the bad weather everyone was making birdies, so it is reasonable to assume that would have continued.
"But I parred the last 11 holes and still won. I doubt that would have been good enough in better weather."
The victory when it came was just another example of Ogilvy's ability to play well when it really matters. And his fine performance – 17 under par for the 72 holes – came after a start to the season that is best categorised as "slow". Although he had registered top-15 finishes in his previous two starts, Ogilvy began 2008 with three missed cuts in succession. So this was a big deal, never mind the $1,350,000 cheque he pocketed.
"My first thought is that this win gets me back on track," he says.
"I've snuck back into the top-ten in the world (he is tenth] and it is quite close between tenth and third. So it won't take much to jump over all of that.
"The rankings are not something I think about a lot. But it would be lovely to be number one in the world one day. Apart from that, they only come up when I'm playing with Scotty (presently number six] in a practice round and one of us wants to give the other some shit. So it's just a nice thing to look at. If you win a lot of tournaments, that sort of thing takes care of itself.
"Plus, in defence of my poor play in January and February, a lot has happened since I won the US Open, the biggest being that (wife] Julia and I have had two kids. I used to be able to come home and do what I liked but those days are gone. I've had to work out how to make everything work. And it's only now that I am finding the right balance.
"I am pretty good at prioritising these days. I certainly don't waste time like I used to. We all waste time really. In fact, before you have kids that's all you do. All you have then is time."
Speaking of which, Ogilvy's return to form is – typically – opportune in that it comes just two weeks before the year's first major, the Masters. In what will be his third appearance at Augusta National, the former World Match Play champion will drive up Magnolia Lane as one of the favourites to don the famous green jacket. Before that, however, he is teeing up this week in Houston.
"I'm going to play in Texas because two weeks off is too much for me before a major," he maintains. "Some guys seem able to prepare away from the tour, Tiger being the obvious example. But I haven't worked that out yet. So I'll be in Houston with one eye on Augusta.
"The ideal scenario for me is three weeks on, then two off, with the third week on being the big event. But the schedule doesn't always fall like that."
Hey, even the famed Ogilvy timing isn't completely flawless.
The full article contains 1207 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
