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Eight-time PGA TOUR winner Geoff Ogilvy admits his return has snuck “under the radar” but insists his days as a full-time touring professional are well and truly behind him.
In the United States for design work with his Ogilvy Cocking Mead architecture firm, Ogilvy took the opportunity to add his name to the field for the Barracuda Championship in California, site of his final PGA TOUR win in 2014.
It has been four years since Ogilvy left the PGA TOUR to relocate back to Melbourne with his family, his PGA TOUR absence lengthened by the travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has spent the first few days at Tahoe Mountain reacquainting himself with peers he shared fairways with for more than 15 years but the 45-year-old ruled out any kind of extended schedule in the US.
“I had a great run. I played really well. I scratched my itch,” Ogilvy said on the eve of a tournament played in a modified Stableford format.
“I’d love to sort of get back amongst it and get in contention a few more times but I wouldn’t be disappointed if I didn’t.
“I’m glad I have the opportunity to be able to do this every now and then and play a little bit.
“If I play a little bit more, that’s great, but I’m loving being dad at home and I’m loving the architecture, and the foundation stuff we’re doing with the junior golfers is really good down there.
“I’m Dad first now and someone who will play golf every now and then. If it took off and I did something where I won and had a crazy exemption, that would be great.
“But otherwise, I’m pretty content to just sort of do what I’m doing.”
Hinting that he will play again in the coming weeks, Ogilvy also has duties to fill as one of Trevor Immelman’s assistant captains at the Presidents Cup in Charlotte in September.
If he is unlikely to experience the rush of a PGA TOUR victory again, being inside the Internationals team room is the next best thing.
“Presidents Cup is my favourite tournament by a mile,” said Ogilvy, who represented the Internationals on three occasions and is a front-runner to be Captain when it returns to Melbourne in 2028.
“Everyone inside the gates at the Presidents Cup has a good time, but inside the team room it’s just fantastic. It’s a great week.
“You get really close with families and golfers and sort of legends that you’ve known but not really got that close to.
“You’re acquaintances on the range every week, but you actually spend a week inside the same hotel and the same bus every morning and the same locker room, and you connect in a way that you can’t connect at individual tournaments.
“It’s a special week.”
As Ogilvy prepares for his 397th start on the PGA TOUR Sydney’s Justin Warren will play his first, 12 months after a missed putt from inside two feet at the Monday qualifier prevented him from making his debut.
Admitting that his miss from close range that went viral was a “brutal experience”, Warren returned to the scene of the crime and Monday qualified, no playoff required.
“It was a pretty brutal experience for me,” Warren said.
“It’s a massive relief. Tears of joy.
“It was nice to get through this year and not have to worry about a playoff or anything like that.”
Ogilvy is not the only Aussie great making a rare appearance back on tour this week as Karrie Webb tees it up in the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.
Playing with good friend Marina Alex in the two-person teams event, Webb and Alex are in a tie for 12th after Round 1 in Michigan as fellow Hall of Famer Annika Sorenstam paired with fellow Swede Madelene Sagstrom to earn a share of the lead with the team of Pauline Roussin and Dewi Weber at five-under 65.
With 11 Aussies in the field to contest The Open Championship which begins at 3.30pm AEST Thursday it shapes as another massive week for Australian golf.
Round 1 tee times AEST
The Open Championship
St Andrews (Old Course), St Andrews, Scotland
3.35pm Min Woo Lee, Webb Simpson, Paul Lawrie
4.30pm Lucas Herbert, Phil Mickelson, Kurt Kityama
5.03pm Cameron Smith, Brooks Koepka, Seamus Power
6.25pm Brad Kennedy, Ernie Els, Adri Arnaus
7.53pm Anthony Quayle, Zander Lombard, John Parry
8.36pm Jed Morgan, Ryan Fox (NZ), Mark Calcavecchia
10.15pm Adam Scott, Marc Leishman, Dustin Johnson
11.15pm Jason Scrivener, Shugo Imahira, David Law
12.43am Dimitrios Papadatos, Matt Griffin, Laurie Canter
Defending champion: Collin Morikawa
Past Aussie winners: Peter Thomson (1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1965), Kel Nagle (1960), Greg Norman (1986, 1993), Ian Baker-Finch (1991)
Top Aussie prediction: Cameron Smith
TV coverage: Live 3.30pm-5am Thursday, Friday; Live 7pm-5am Saturday; Live 6pm-4am Sunday on Fox Sports 505.
PGA TOUR
Barracuda Championship
Tahoe Mountain Club (Old Greenwood Cse), Truckee, California
11.45pm* Geoff Ogilvy, John Merrick, Espen Kofstad
1.24am Cameron Percy, Wesley Bryan, Nino Bertasio
5am* Aaron Baddeley, Kelly Kraft, Johannes Veerman
5.22am* Greg Chalmers, Omar Uresti, Lucas Bjerregaard
5.33am Cam Davis, Chad Ramey, Chez Reavie
6.06am* Scott Hend, James Hahn, Parker McLachlin
6.50am Brett Drewitt, Austin Smotherman, Tom Lewis
7.12am* Justin Warren, Pep Angles, Josh McCarthy
Defending champion: Erik van Rooyen
Past Aussie winners: Geoff Ogilvy (2014), Greg Chalmers (2016)
Top Aussie prediction: Cam Davis
TV coverage: Live 8am-11am Friday, Saturday, Sunday on Fox Sports 503; Live 8am Monday on Fox Sports +.
LPGA Tour
Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational
Midland Country Club, Midland, Michigan
Round 1 scores
T7 Katherine Kirk/Amy Olson (68)
T12 Karrie Webb/Marina Alex (69)
T12 Sarah Kemp/Alena Sharp (69)
T30 Karis Davidson/Daniela Darquea (71)
T59 Sarah Jane Smith/Mariajo Uribe (74)
Defending champion: Ariya Jutanugarn
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Katherine Kirk
TV coverage: Live 3am-6am Friday, Saturday on Fox Sports 503; Live 5am-8am on Fox Sports 506.
Ladies European Tour
Big Green Egg Open
Rosendaelsche Golf Club, Netherlands
4.33pm* Whitney Hillier, Becky Brewerton, Nuria Iturrioz
Defending champion: Stephanie Kyriacou
Past Aussie winners: Stephanie Kyriacou (2021)
Top Aussie prediction: Whitney Hillier
Korn Ferry Tour
Memorial Health Championship
Panther Creek Country Club, Springfield, Illinois
10.15pm* Rhein Gibson, Ben Griffin, Shad Tuten
11.15pm* Ryan Ruffels, Sam Stevens, Spencer Ralston
3.15am Harrison Endycott, Kris Ventura, Brad Hopfinger
3.15am* Curtis Luck, Nelson Ledesma, John VanDerLaan
3.55am* Nick Voke, Gregor Main, Michael Feagles
Defending champion: Taylor Moore
Past Aussie winners: Brett Drewitt (2020)
Top Aussie prediction: Harrison Endycott
Challenge Tour
Euram Bank Open
GC Adamstal, Ramsau, Austria
6.20pm* Austin Bautista, Euan Walker, Finn Fleer
10.45pm Blake Windred, Peter Launer Baek, Gary Boyd
10.45pm* Daniel Hillier, Nicolai Kristensen, Stuart Manley
10.55pm Josh Geary, Benjamin Poke, David Borda
Defending champion: Stuart Manley
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Austin Bautista
