Aussie won’t count self out
Once among top 10, Ogilvy now playing for Tour card, playoffs
He will forever be known as a U.S. Open champion, winning his lone major championship in
2006 at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York.
He’s a three-time winner of a World Golf Championships event, a total surpassed only by Dustin Johnson (five) and Tiger Woods (18).
He once resided in the top 10 of the official world golf rankings and represented Australia in the Presidents Cup three times.
This week, however, Geoff Ogilvy is the bubble boy.
The winner of eight PGA Tour titles and $30.24 million stands at No. 125 in the FedExCup standings, the cutoff point for those who will move on to the lucrative four-tournament postseason and earn full playing privileges on the Tour for the
2017-18 season.
“It’s in my hands,” Ogilvy said from Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C., home to the Wyndham Championship, the last regular-season tournament of the 2016-17 season. “It’s an odd situation. A lot of years I didn’t come here because I was resting for the playoffs, but we’re at where we’re at.”
Using his one-time careermoney exemption to play this season, Ogilvy, 40, didn’t think he’d be in his current position when he stood two shots out of the lead through 36 holes of the Quicken Loans National in July. He was eyeing his first victory since 2014, a spot in the British Open and a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour. But a sour weekend culminating with bogeys on his final two holes in the final round sent him into a tie for
13th and blunted his rise in the standings.
Since then, he has missed the cut twice and tied for 54th and
58th in four events.
“It’s a bit of a shame,” Ogilvy said. “I was in proper form again, hitting real golf shots.”
But despite playing “average golf ” since then, carrying a cold putter and sitting on the hot seat, Ogilvy is not dejected.
If he has a good week, he’s on to the first playoff event. If he plays well there, then it’s on to the second playoff event, and from there, he said, no one knows what could happen.
“That’s the beauty of the FedExCup. Mathematically I could still win the FedExCup Cup,” he said. “It gives me a lot of hope that a good week here could set off a good little run and make me sit down at the end of the season and say it was a great season. Or if I have a bad week I say that was that. It’s that kind of final line.”
If things don’t go well, Ogilvy could opt to head to the Web.com Tour Finals, a four-event playoff where he could improve his playing status for next season. He could even win full playing privileges. He won’t play in all four events no matter what — he is an assistant captain for the Internationals squad in the Presidents Cup. And he knows he will have some degree of playing status next year and could ask for invites to other tournaments.
“It’s not the end of the world,” he said. “Yes, life would be easier if I play well, but I have golf to play next year. So it’s not quite as black and white as it kind of seems on the outside. I plan on having a decent week, and if that doesn’t happen, I’d sit down next week and come up with a plan.”
It would be a plan full of optimism. During his struggles this year, he has rekindled his passion for the game. He has discovered things to help his swing and is excited about his game heading into the future.
“You learn more when you struggle than when you succeed,” he said. “I’ve worked out some stuff this year, and I’m very bullish on the future. I have a new lease on excitement that I haven’t had for a long time about golf.
“Whatever happens this week, I feel there’s some pretty good stuff coming up. I’m more excited about golf than I have been for five years, and that’s exciting, especially at 40.”
Or 125.