Taking Aim

Paul Prendergast talks to seven-time PGA Tour winner, astute course design critic and father of three Geoff Ogilvy about the state of his game, his off-course architecture business, the renovation of St Andrews and the long putter debate

Ogilvy with the US Open trophy in 2006 after an enthralling final day at Winged Foot

Changing tack, your immediate goal must be to get into the Masters. The equation is pretty simple, isn't it – win an event or be in the top 50 by the end of March?

Pretty much. I was 51st at the end of the year and I’m pretty sure I’ll drop a couple of spots before I start the year [at the time of press Ogilvy is ranked 58th]. So I’m playing four or five tournaments in a row on the west coast and I’ll play till I get in basically.

They have another world ranking cut off at the end of March and I’ll get in if I’m in the top 50, which is not a massive stretch obviously because it’s only a couple of spots. If I win a golf tournament, I can re-evaluate my schedule but the main goal for the year is to get to Augusta.

You haven’t missed the Masters in eight years so has this been a jolt to the system for you?

It has been a little bit. I could have played more in the last three months of last year but I really needed a break, and every time I’ve played extra tournaments when I felt like I needed a break, I’ve paid for it later on. So I took a bit of a risk and I just missed. It was basically a case where one shot better at any tournament last year and I would have made it. It was like a 200th of a point, it was ridiculous how close it was.

Not getting the [invitation] letter in the first week of January – it's the first time I haven’t had it in a while, so it’s a little disappointing but hopefully I can get it soon.

The Ogilvy File

Date of birth: 11 June 1977
Place of birth: Adelaide, Australia
Turned pro: 1998
Major wins: 1 – US Open (2006)
Other victories: 11 – including three World Golf Championship titles
Team appearances: 3-time member of the Presidents Cup International Team (2007, 2009 and 2011)

Pages

Click here to see the published article.