Ogilvy decides to move family to Australia
The 2006 U.S. Open champion wants permanence for family
Geoff Ogilvy’s immediate future involves fewer golf tournaments and longer flights.
Ogilvy has been contemplating in the last few years moving back home to Australia, and after discussing it with his Texas-born wife, Juli, they plan to return to Melbourne shortly after Christmas.
Their daughter, Phoebe, turns 12 in October and will be starting the seventh grade in Australia. They have two sons, Jasper (10) and Harvey (8). The Ogilvys figured that waiting much longer to decide where to live would make it tougher on the children.
“We just talked about it, for lots of reasons, and we kept making pros and cons. Juli was strong on it,” Ogilvy said. “We’re excited. I’m at the point where I’m not going to play 27 times a year. It’s going to be brutal to play from there. But you’ve got to choose life.”
Ogilvy won the 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, and he counts three World Golf Championships among his eight PGA Tour victories. He also has won the Australian Open and the Australian PGA Championship and has reached No. 3 in the world.
His last victory was in 2014, and Ogilvy has slipped to No. 416 in the world.
He has been dividing some of his time with a golf course design business with projects that include Shady Oaks in Fort Worth (including a “Little Nine” course that opened last year), a renovation in China and a 36-hole course called Peninsula Kingwood in Melbourne.
Ogilvy, who grew up at Victoria Golf Club, still has a home on the 14th hole of the West Course at Royal Melbourne. If he didn’t move back home, Ogilvy figured he would be spending six months in Melbourne and six months in Scottsdale, Ariz.
“It’s a feeling more than anything,” he said. “Scottsdale is dreamy. We live a great existence. I know what I’m getting there. If we didn’t move back, we’d be a six-and-six family. The kids get out of school, and they’re bounced back and forth. It’s not good for continuity.” As for golf? Ogilvy narrowly kept his full PGA Tour card last year, and this season has been a struggle. He hasn’t sorted out what kind of schedule he would keep, understanding it would involve long trips from Sydney to Dallas.
The immediate goal would be to play a heavy fall schedule and miss most of the West Coast swing to get acclimated to the move.