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Gold Coast’s Damien Jordan needed just 24 putts in his opening round to earn a share of the lead after day one of the Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am at Rockhampton Golf Club on Thursday.
Brett Rankin and Aaron Townsend set the pace in the morning groups with rounds of 4-under 68 but the low rounds of the day were to come later, Jordan and New South Welshman Josh Armstrong with a one-shot buffer after each posted a round of 6-under 66 in the latest event of the adidas Pro-Am Series.
With the Rockhampton layout in superb condition and a quality field to match, scores were expected to be low but the golf course’s twisting waterways and lagoons managed to keep some of Australia’s best players relatively in check.
After making a birdie at the par-5 opening hole Jordan experienced a relatively subdued stretch for match of the front nine to be 1-under through six holes.
Taking advantage of another par-5 at the 542m seventh, Jordan picked up his second birdie of the day and then watched on partly in amazement as putt after putt found the bottom of the cup.
“Looking back on the round, I finished with 24 putts today,” said the 2017 Vic PGA champion.
“I putted really well today. I holed everything.”
The 40-year-old made four birdies in succession from the seventh hole and picked up two more at 12 and 14, his only dropped shot of the day coming at the 200m par-3 11th.
If Jordan’s was something of a slow start the big-hitting Armstrong cashed in on his opportunities early, making birdie at four of his opening five holes to surge up the leaderboard.
There were hiccups at seven and 11 but a stretch of three straight birdies from the 13th hole to join Jordan at the top with two rounds left to play.
New South Welshman Daniel Gale is one shot behind Armstrong and Jordan after a round of 5-under 67 with Townsend and Rankin in a group of four players along with Aaron Wilkin and Nicholas Russell a further shot back at 4-under.
Back where he grew up it was Terry Price who earned bragging rights amongst the Price family on day one with a round of 2-over 74, four shots better than younger brother John and seven clear of son Sam.
Round 2 commences at 6.50am on Friday with Armstrong to tee off at 7am and Jordan to follow off the 10th tee at 7.50am.
Lucas Herbert has earned another shot at securing his future in the United States after qualifying for this week’s Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands in Connecticut.
Currently ranked No.100 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Herbert has full status on the European Tour through until the end of the 2022 season by virtue of his victory at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic last January.
But with the travel complications caused by COVID and invites into World Golf Championships and Majors available to him, Herbert has spent the majority of 2021 in the US playing the PGA TOUR and based primarily out of Chicago.
Last month the Victorian played his way into the Wells Fargo Championship via Monday qualifying before missing the cut but impressed at The Memorial Tournament three weeks ago, finishing tied for 18th, his best result in 13 PGA TOUR appearances to date.
That number will grow to 14 on Thursday after he shot 6-under 66 to secure one of the four spots on offer at Ellington Ridge Country Club, joining Jason Day, Matt Jones, Marc Leishman, Cameron Percy, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith in flying the Aussie flag this week.
Out in the first group of the day on Monday, Herbert was in prime position when he made the turn in 4-under 32 and bogey free, picking up birdies at 10 and 13 to further cement his position towards the top of the leaderboard.
There was a slight blemish with a dropped shot at the par-4 16th but he recovered that at the very next hole with a birdie at the par-3 17th to finish third behind Stephen Stallings (63) and Seamus Power (65) and one shot clear of the four-man playoff for the final spot.
The 91 FedEx Cup points that Herbert has accrued in his seven events this season makes him eligible for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals but he still requires a further 197 points to earn Special Temporary Membership of the PGA TOUR.
The 25-year-old was initially entered to play the BMW International Open on the European Tour this week alongside fellow Aussies Scott Hend, Wade Ormsby, Min Woo Lee, Maverick Antcliff, Jake McLeod and Elvis Smylie in his European Tour debut.
His putt on the 72nd hole had all the hallmarks of Tiger Woods circa 2008; his birdie at the hole prior setting up a shot at history alongside three giants of the game of golf.
As the pre-tournament favourite Jon Rahm’s major championship breakthrough was in some ways expected but the events of the past month – and the manner in which he won the 2021 US Open at Torrey Pines’ South Course – will forever be etched in folklore.
Denied a win at The Memorial Tournament two weeks ago when informed he had tested positive for COVID-19 with a six-stroke lead through 54 holes, Rahm’s preparation was disrupted. Yet he arrived at the scene of his first PGA TOUR win and where he proposed to his wife with the belief that the golf gods might owe him one.
Those same gods can be fickle but perhaps there was some divine intervention as he rolled in consecutive left-to-right birdie putts from 24 and 18 feet at the 71st and 72nd holes respectively to post 6-under par with the equal-best round of the tournament, a 4-under 67.
When Louis Oosthuizen (71) made a clutch putt at the par-3 16th trailing by one stroke a playoff looked more than possible yet a poor tee shot into the penalty area left of the 17th fairway led to a bogey, the two-shot deficit going down the final hole too much to rein in as he recorded his sixth runner-up finish at a major.
Rahm’s release after his birdie putt at 18 resembled Woods in 2008 as he forced an 18-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate and his birdie-birdie finish joins Ben Hogan (Oakmont, 1953), Jack Nicklaus (Baltusrol, 1980) and Tom Watson (Pebble Beach, 1982) as the only US Open champions to win in such a fashion.
“I’m a big believer in karma and after what happened a couple weeks ago I stayed really positive
knowing good things were coming,” said Rahm.
“I didn’t know what it was going to be, but I knew we were coming to a special place. I knew I got my breakthrough win here and it’s a very special place for my family.
“The fact that my parents were able to come, I got out of COVID protocol early, I just felt like the stars were aligning, and I knew my best golf was to come.
“I have a hard time explaining what just happened because I can’t even believe I made the last two putts, and I’m the first Spaniard ever to win a US Open.
“This was definitely for Seve (Ballesteros). I know he tried a lot. Usually we think a lot about him at the Masters, but I know he wanted to win this one most of all.
“I just don’t know how to explain it.”
As the championship entered its final nine holes the leaderboard was littered with former major champions all jockeying for top spot, going shoulder to shoulder and invariably bumping each other out of Rahm’s way.
Defending champion Bryson DeChambeau bullied his way to a share of the lead only to implode over the closing eight holes, dropping eight shots including a quadruple bogey on 17 that saw him plummet to a tie for 26th.
Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy entered the frame only to fade late; Harris English posted a score of 3-under that for a fleeting moment looked as though it might not be bettered and Oosthuizen had a two-shot lead with eight holes to play only for bogeys at 11 and 17 to ultimately prove fatal.
It was a week in which Australians failed to feature towards the top of the leaderboard, Adam Scott (73) finishing as the leading Aussie at 5-over par for the championship and in a tie for 35th.
South Australian Wade Ormsby completed a memorable US Open debut with a final round of even par 71 to finish one shot back of Scott at 6-over and in a tie for 40th, his best career finish in a major championship.
A Sunday 77 saw Marc Leishman finish 64th at 12-over par, one shot ahead of Matt Jones who was tied for 65th with a 13-over par total for the four rounds.
US Open
Torrey Pines Golf Course (South Cse), San Diego, California
Winner Jon Rahm 69-70-72-67—278 $US2.25m
T35 Adam Scott 70-75-71-73—289 $65,416
T40 Wade Ormsby 72-74-73-71—290 $52,074
64 Marc Leishman 74-70-75-77—296 $25,907
T65 Matt Jones 72-71-79-75—297 $25,907
MC Cameron Smith 72-75—147
MC Brad Kennedy 74-78—152
MC Steve Allan 80-79—159
New South Welshmen Brett Drewitt and Blake Windred have taken significant steps toward promotions to golf’s two largest tours in 2022 after top-five finishes on their respective tours over the weekend.
As the golf world was enraptured by an enthralling final day at the US Open, Drewitt was putting himself in contention for a second Korn Ferry Tour title at the Wichita Open and a move deep inside the top 25 in the Order of Merit.
Thrust into the top five on the back of an 8-under par round of 62 on Saturday, Drewitt was treading water with nine straight pars to start his final round before making his charge early in the back nine.
He birdied the 10th and 11th holes and when he eagled the par-5 14th was just one shot off the lead.
The birdies he needed to rise to the top of the leaderboard proved elusive over the final four holes as he closed with a 4-under 66 to take a share of third, two shots back of Englishman Harry Hall.
A winner at the Lincoln Land Championship last September, Drewitt’s top-five finish moves him up six spots to 23rd on the Korn Ferry Tour moneylist and within reach of one of the 25 PGA TOUR cards to be handed out at the end of the regular season.
Rhein Gibson was the only other Australian to make the cut at Crestview Country Club, moving up 14 spots to a tie for 13th courtesy of a final round of 5-under 65.
Like Drewitt, Windred has greatly enhanced his chances of playing on the European Tour next year with a runner-up finish at the Challenge de España on the Challenge Tour.
Tied for second at the ISUZU Queensland Open in March, Windred held a share of the 36-hole lead in Cadiz but dropped into a share of fifth following a third round of 2-under 70.
Starting the final round three shots off the lead, Windred made birdies at four of his first five holes but bogeys at three and six prevented him from a making a greater impression on the front-runners early.
Five pars in succession were followed by a run of three straight birdies from the 12th hole, his eighth birdie of the day at the par-4 17th leaving him one shot shy of the winner, Spain’s Santiago Tarrio.
Top-20 the week prior, Windred’s second placing moves him up 44 places on the Road to Mallorca points race to 24th, the top 20 at season’s end earning a European Tour card for the 2022 season.
Su Oh was in contention to record her first LPGA Tour win at the halfway mark of the Meijer LPGA Classic in Michigan but struggled to keep up with the hot pace over the weekend.
A third round of 3-under 69 saw Oh fall into a share of fourth with a round to play, her closing 1-under 71 resulting in a tie for 15th, her best result of the 2021 season.
Europe’s Legends Tour kicked off its 2021 season at the Farmfoods European Legends Links Championship where Kiwi Michael Long and Peter Fowler both finished inside the top 20.
Results
Korn Ferry Tour
Wichita Open
Crestview Country Club, Wichita, Kansas
Winner Harry Hall 64-63-66-67—260 $US108,000
T3 Brett Drewitt 69-65-62-66—262 $31,500
T13 Rhein Gibson 68-67-66-65—266 $10,550
MC Steven Alker 67-71—138
MC Jamie Arnold 67-73—140
MC Harrison Endycott 69-71—140
MC Nick Voke 72-73—145
MC Brett Coletta 77-74—151
Challenge Tour
Challenge de España
Iberostar Real Club de Golf Novo Sancti Petri, Cadiz, Spain
Winner Santiago Tarrio 71-64-67-66—268 €32,000
T2 Blake Windred 68-65-70-66—269 €16,000
T9 Daniel Hillier 66-68-70-68—272 €4,250
T36 Dimitrios Papadatos 69-70-72-69—280 €1,360
MC Jarryd Felton 76-72—148
MC Deyen Lawson 75-74—149
LPGA Tour
Meijer LPGA Classic
Blythefield Country Club, Grand Rapids, Michigan
T15 Su Oh 67-65-69-71—272 $US30,620
T29 Katherine Kirk 70-67-70-68—275 $15,407
T45 Gabriela Ruffels 67-72-69-69—277 $8,609
T45 Hannah Green 70-66-71-70—277 $8,609
T61 Lydia Ko 71-69-71-69—280 $5,493
MC Sarah Kemp 73-73—146
MC Sarah Jane Smith 73-73—146
Legends Tour
Farmfoods European Legends Links Championship
Trevose Golf & Country Club, Padstow, England
T14 Michael Long 77-70-68—215 €4,350
T17 Peter Fowler 75-72-70—217 €2,906
T33 Michael Campbell 78-72-71—221 €1,650
PGA TOUR Latinoamerica
Holcim Colombia Classic
Club Campestre de Bucaramanga, Bucaramanga, Colombia
MC Danny List 73-76—149
Brisbane’s Tim Hart has vowed to take his pro-am dominance to the next level after completing a two-stroke victory at the Downer Blackwater Pro-Am at Blackwater Golf Club on Sunday.
Boasting a two-shot advantage after a course record opening round of 10-under 62 on Saturday, Hart birdied his first two holes on Sunday to keep the chasing pack comfortably at bay, his 6-under 66 for 16-under par total two clear of Nathan Barbieri (66) with Aaron Wilkin (65) and Sam Brazel (68) finishing third and fourth respectively.
Hart’s Blackwater conquest was his sixth win in his past eight starts and completed a dominant win in the Onsite Rental Group Mining Towns Series that comes with a $5,000 bonus, but Hart has already turned his eyes towards a bigger prize.
The $70,000 Ian Weigh Toyota Rockhampton Pro-Am starts on Thursday and will feature some of the PGA Tour of Australasia’s most accomplished players… and a prolific pro-am winner with a point to prove.
“This win gives me really good confidence heading into Rockhampton next week though with a number of players flying in for that event, the field definitely becomes deeper,” said Hart.
“I have really enjoyed the Mining Town Series this year and this is a great way to top it off.
“I set my goal to get to 60-under par for the series which would mean I would have averaged 6-under par per round, and it is great to be able to achieve that.
“This is the third series win in a row and I can’t be more thankful to Onsite Rental Group for their support of the series knowing I have certainly been the largest beneficiary of their partnership with the PGA.”
Hart’s only two bogeys for the tournament came at the fifth and 13th holes on Sunday but it did little to stall his momentum, picking up shots at three of his final four holes and paying tribute to the presentation of the Blackwater layout.
“Blackwater Golf Club was in amazing condition this week and as many have said already, they are definitely the best greens in the Central Highland,” Hart added.
Barbieri had six birdies and an eagle at the par-5 11th in his second round of 6-under 66 while Wilkin had eight birdies and an eagle as he completed the best round of the day, a 7-under 65 to grab third.
Although 26 shots behind Hart’s impressive total, Damien Jordan, Gavin Fairfax and Shae Wools-Cobb all finished in a tie for second in the Onsite Rental Group Mining Town Series taking home an additional $1,000 in bonus prizemoney.
The adidas PGA Pro-Am Series now moves to the Rockhampton Pro-Am starting Thursday with the likes of Bryden Macpherson, Ben Eccles, Matt Millar, Andre Stolz, Jordan Zunic and Steven Jeffress joining those already competing in the recent swing of events to generate one of the strongest fields of the year.
A course record and unassailable lead in the Onsite Rental Group Mining Town Series has pro-am plunderer Tim Hart positioned for a handy pay-day in Sunday’s second and final round of the $22,000 Downer Blackwater Pro-Am.
Praising the Blackwater Golf Club greens as the best that players have seen in the Mining Town Series to date, Hart’s combination of aggressive mindset and superb run of form produced a course record 10-under 62 in Saturday’s opening round.
As has become his habit, Hart completed his round with an eagle at the par-4 fifth hole having peeled off eight birdies in his previous 17 holes to take a two-shot lead into the final round.
Winner of five of his past seven starts – he was top-five in the other two – Hart is not only well placed to win at Blackwater but with a 19-shot lead pick up the lion’s share of the $8,000 bonus prizemoney having already taken out the Hidden Valley Whitsundays North Queensland Series.
“Needless to say, I feel really comfortable on the courses here in Central Queensland,” said Hart.
“They tend to lend themselves to being able to hit driver more often than not and I love that the courses allow me to keep playing aggressive.
“The greens here at Blackwater Golf Club are easily the best we have played in the Mining Town Series and it gave me plenty of confidence knowing if I hit it on line it was going to go in.
“Having won here in 2014 I have really good memories and that certainly helps when you are standing on tees trying to remember holes from 12 months ago.”
New South Welshman Nathan Barbieri will be hoping to turn a consistent run of form into a victory on Sunday after his round of 8-under 64 with former European Tour player Sam Brazel in outright third after a round of 6-under 64 that featured five birdies and an eagle at the par-5 11th.
With a nine-round accumulative total of 55-under par Hart leads the Mining Towns Series by 19 strokes, Shae Wools-Cobb, Gavin Fairfax and Damien Jordan left to fight it out for the minor placings.
At 36-under par Wools-Cobb (68) is five strokes clear of Fairfax (68) and Jordan (70) who are both 31-under par in the nine rounds they have played to date. The final round of the Downer Blackwater Pro-Am tees off tomorrow from 6.45am with Tim Hart teeing off alongside Barbieri at 11.30am from the first tee.
Victorian Daniel Beckmann can go a long way to erasing the disappointment of being disqualified at last month’s Kwinana Pro-Am as he takes a one stroke lead into the second round of the Roy Hill Port Hedland Classic at Port Hedland Golf Club.
After an eight-year break from the game Beckmann made his return at the PGA Tour of Australasia Qualifying School at Moonah Links in April and secured a full playing card.
In his first start back Beckmann finished atop the leaderboard alongside Andrew Kelly at the Kwinana Pro-Am only to be later disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. (Beckmann signed for a 68 when he in fact had 3-under 69.)
Beckmann had nine birdies in an opening round of 6-under 66 at Port Hedland to take a one-shot advantage into Sunday’s second round, South Australian Max McCardle, South West Open champion Brady Watt and Simon Houston all locked together at 5-under 67.
It is the first time Houston has returned to Port Hedland’s sand greens in five years while McCardle will draw on his experience from 2015 when he left Port Hedland as champion.
Dale Howie and Conor Brown are two shots adrift after rounds of 4-under 68 while 2016 champion Peter Cooke got hot late in his opening round to post 3-under 69, sitting in a five-way tie for seventh with Jarrod McCosh, Peter Wilson, Brad Moules and Andrew Kelly.
The final round of the Roy Hill Port Hedland Classic begins at 8.30am AWST Sunday.
Gabi Ruffels insists this week’s Meijer Classic in Michigan is the perfect preparation for her fourth appearance in a Major championship having been added to the field for the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship starting next Thursday.
Ruffels and Mexico’s Maria Fassi were both granted sponsor invites to play in the year’s third Major, Ruffels already having proven that she has the combination of game and temperament to contend in the game’s showpiece events.
She was top-15 at both the ANA Inspiration and US Women’s Open in 2020 as an amateur and in April was tied for 19th at the ANA having joined the professional ranks in February of this year.
The 2019 US Women’s Amateur champion and runner-up in 2020, Ruffels turned professional without status on either the LPGA Tour or secondary Symetra Tour but is destined to rise rapidly into the ranks of the world’s best.
Already ranked 136 in the world to be the fifth-highest Australian in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Ruffels could avoid Q-School and earn an LPGA Tour card by winning an event or earning the equivalent points of the top 40 on the Order of Merit.
For now, though, she is simply grateful for the chance to play this week and the invitation to play at Atlanta Athletic Club in a week’s time.
“One of the tournament organisers sent me an e-mail and I got an e-mail from the LPGA with the entry form for the KPMG,” Ruffels said of the unexpected invite that arrived in her inbox on Monday.
“I got it three hours late after my practice round on Monday and I was so excited.
“I was in the car with my coach Grant, my Mum and I was like, ‘Oh, my God, you wouldn’t believe it. I just got into KPMG.’
“It was cool. I texted my manager straightaway because I know they had been working on that.
“As you can tell, I’m pretty excited.”
Ruffels is one of six Aussies in the field at Grand Rapids this week, five of whom are also in the field for the KPMG Women’s PGA.
Su Oh, Hannah Green, Katherine Kirk, Sarah Kemp and Sarah Jane Smith are also in action this week where Ruffels intends to take advantage of the opportunity to sharpen her game before another Major test.
“I feel like there is no better preparation than playing an LPGA event before next week’s major,” Ruffels said.
“Just trying to play as best as I can this week and hopefully have good preparation for next.”
West Australian Hannah Green will return to Australia for five weeks following the Women’s PGA Championship and the 2019 champion intends to finish this block of her season on a positive note.
“It is easy to get excited and caught up in going home and forget why I’m playing the next two events,” Green admitted.
“This week I haven’t done as much prep as I probably would just because I was quite tired from the last few weeks, so kind of taking it a little bit easier.
“Next week as soon as I get there and see past champion name and parking lot and stuff like that, I think I’ll be really motivated to try and get that again in ‘21.
“It is going to be a tough task, but I’m ready for it.”
Round 1 tee times AEST
LPGA Tour
Meijer LPGA Classic For Simply Give
Blythefield Country Club, Grand Rapids, Michigan
9.26pm Su Oh, Min Seo Kwak, Klara Spilkova
9.48pm Gabriela Ruffels, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, Charley Hull
9.59pm Lydia Ko, Jin Young Ko, Mel Reid
9.59pm* Hannah Green, Cristie Kerr, Sophia Popov
11.16pm* Sarah Jane Smith, Mind Muangkhumsakul, Maia Schechter
2.15am* Katherine Kirk, Dottie Ardina, Pernilla Lindberg
3.32am* Sarah Kemp, Austin Ernst, Mi Jung Hur
Defending champion: Brooke Henderson (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Top Aussie prediction: Hannah Green
TV schedule: Live 12.30am-3.30am Thursday, Friday; Live 5am-8am Sunday; Live 3am-6am Monday on Fox Sports 505.
Korn Ferry Tour
Wichita Open
Crestview Country Club, Wichita, Kansas
10.05pm* Jamie Arnold, Seth Reeves, Tommy Gainey
10.16pm Rhein Gibson, Ryan Brehm, Will Wilcox
3.15am Brett Coletta, Michael Gellerman, Billy Kennerly
3.57am Steven Alker, Peter Uihlein, Julián Etulain
4.07am* Brett Drewitt, Ollie Schniederjans, Theo Humphrey
4.28am Nick Voke, Mark Blakefield, Cyril Bouniol
4.49am Harrison Endycott, Patrick Fishburn, Steve Lewton
Defending champion: Jared Wolfe
Past Aussie winners: Bradley Hughes (2004), Mathew Goggin (2011)
Top Aussie prediction: Rhein Gibson
PGA TOUR Latinoamerica
Holcim Colombia Classic
Club Campestre de Bucaramanga, Bucaramanga, Colombia
3.30am* Danny List, Derek Gillespie, Sean Busch
Defending champion: Andrés Echavarría (2016)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Legends Tour
Farmfoods European Legends Links Championship
Trevose Golf & Country Club, Padstow, England
Australasians in the field: Peter Fowler, Michael Campbell, Michael Long
Defending champion: Jean-Francois Remesy (2019)
Past Aussie winners: Nil
Novocastrian Blake Windred is in position to turn a tournament invitation into a European Tour card after taking a share of the lead at the halfway mark of the Challenge de España at Iberostar Real Club de Golf Novo Sancti Petri.
As the golf world turns much of its attention to the US Open this week, the European Challenge Tour event in Spain is already through 36 holes, Windred reeled off an eagle at the par-5 second and five birdies in a round of 7-under 65, joining Spaniard Lucas Vacarisas at 11-under and with a one-stroke advantage at the top of the leaderboard.
The recipient of an invite by the Head of the Challenge Tour, Windred said he is hoping to turn a consistent run of tournament golf into a good result over the closing two rounds.
“I have been lucky enough to have a couple of invites and play pretty much every week for the last six weeks,” said Windred.
“I am trying to make the most of those invites and play some good golf and hopefully I can stay out here.”
Playing in his sixth event of the season, Windred has made the cut in each of his five starts to date, a tie for 18th at the Challenge de Cadiz that finished on Sunday with a closing round of 67 an indicator that he was approaching his best form.
Coached by Gary Barter at The Australian Golf Club, the 23-year-old admitted that it has been an adjustment competing against elite professionals week after week.
“It is a different kind of game playing week in week out with some of the best players in the world,” said Windred, who was second at the ISUZU Queensland Open and sixth at the Golf Challenge NSW Open prior to leaving for Europe.
“Honestly, I think some of the best players out here are going to be top ten players in the world.
“I do not have a ticket booked home yet. It is pretty expensive heading back to Australia and then 14 days in a hotel room in isolation doesn’t sound too good.
“My plan is to just play some good golf and hope it is over by the time I head home.”
Windred jumped 14 places to 68th in the Road to Mallorca Order of Merit on the back of his top-20 finish last week and can move inside the top 10 with a win in Friday’s final round.
Kiwi Daniel Hillier is one of five players one shot behind Windred and Vacarisas at 10-under with Dimi Papadatos (5-under) also qualifying for the final two rounds. Jarryd Felton and Deyen Lawson both missed the cut.
The irony wasn’t lost on Geoff Ogilvy. The scene of one of Greg Norman’s many Major heartbreaks, Winged Foot Golf Club and the events of the 1984 US Open were ingrained into the brain of Ogilvy from a very young age.
He watched the tape of that tournament and the 18-hole playoff that decided it over and over and over again, yet here he was as the 2006 US Open champion, the beneficiary of one of the most dramatic final-hole collapses in golf history.
“I kind of feel bad that no one ever did this for Greg,” Ogilvy offered as he addressed a media throng still trying to come to grips with how their new champion came to be sitting before them.
“No one ever gave him the luck I got today on the last few holes.”
If either Phil Mickelson or Colin Montgomerie par the 72nd hole they win a US Open that would have dramatically altered their careers for vastly different reasons. Yet both made double bogey and were asked to somehow make sense of it.
“I had it right in my hands and I let it go,” Mickelson said. “I just can’t believe I did that.”
“This is as difficult as it gets,” said Montgomerie. “You wonder sometimes why you put yourself through this.”
For Ogilvy, it was the realisation of a boyhood dream as he joined David Graham as the only Australian men to win the US Open.
“Obviously you dream about winning a major championship,” Ogilvy said.
“To have it actually happen, once it sinks in, it’s pretty special.”
WHAT CAME BEFORE
Geoff Ogilvy’s success on the PGA TOUR was something of a slow burn.
His career tally of eight wins in the US puts him level with David Graham and Bruce Devlin and equal eighth for most PGA TOUR wins by an Australian but his first didn’t come until his fifth season on tour.
He won the 2005 Chrysler Classic of Tucson while the big guns were playing the WGC-Accenture Match Play.
Twelve months later he turned up and won that event.
Less than four months later he arrived at famed Winged Foot Golf Club in New York having finished top six at the final two majors of 2005 and tied for 16th at the 2006 Masters, yet he was far from a fancied pick.
Michelle Wie attracted plenty of attention in her attempt to qualify but the headlines were dominated by the pending duel between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Woods was making his first start since the passing of his father, Earl, nine weeks earlier while Mickelson arrived as the sentimental and bookmaker’s favourite and seeking to win a third consecutive Major.
“I’m just trying to win one,” said Mickelson, who had finished runner-up in two of the past three US Opens. “All I’m trying to do is be successful on this one golf course at this one event.”
HOW IT UNFOLDED
Drawn to play the opening two rounds with Englishman David Howell and American Bo Van Pelt, Ogilvy’s campaign began at 2.09pm on Thursday and he was two back at the end of day one with a round of 1-over 71, Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie the only player to break par in the opening round.
There were 14 players within two shots of the lead but by the end of Round 2 Woods no longer featured, missing the cut with a two-round total of 152.
Ogilvy stayed within two of the lead with a second round of even par 70, now trailing American Steve Stricker who had come through qualifying to even play in the event.
Drawn to play with Kenneth Ferrie in the second-to-last group on Saturday, Ogilvy was adamant that he was revelling in the test of intestinal fortitude that comes at a US Open.
“I’m trying to enjoy it,” said Ogilvy.
“It’s not the most fun in the world to be grinding away for pars and missing greens with semi easy shots and having a hard time hitting fairways, but the challenge of getting it up and down and grinding it out, that’s a fun challenge when I’m able to get it done.
“That’s how I’m looking at it, just trying to enjoy it.”
When Mickeslon assumed a share of the 54-hole lead alongside Ferrie at the completion of Round 3, American writers such as Jim Litke from The Associated Press bemoaned the lack of star power at the pointy end of the leaderboard.
“It’s hard to find anyone capable of pushing Lefty out of his comfort zone,” Litke wrote.
Ogilvy, meanwhile, thought his spot in the penultimate group with Ian Poulter one off the lead was exactly where he needed to be after a third round of 2-over 72.
“I started today maybe two back and I ended the day one back, so I’m going forward,” Ogilvy told the assembled press.
“If you told me on Thursday I was going to play in the second to the last group only one shot behind, I’d have been happy.”
If he was viewed as an unlikely threat to Mickelson prior to Sunday – despite his World Match Play title four months earlier – the reaction to Ogilvy’s dramatic win was equally dismissive.
Newspapers such as the Ithaca Journal were fixated on the Mickelson and Montgomerie collapses, Ogilvy’s short-game wizardry on holes 17 and 18 something of an afterthought to the drama that unfolded.
A chip-in from the fringe at 17 followed by an up-and-down straight from the Melbourne Sandbelt playbook at the last gave Ogilvy a Sunday score of 2-over 72 and the clubhouse lead at 5-over for the championship.
Montgomerie had already made a mess of the 72nd hole by making double bogey to post 6-over but when Mickelson stood on the 18th tee at 4-over par a playoff was viewed by many as the worst-case scenario, a coronation into golf immortality a certainty with a four.
Yet the American’s wild drive and even wilder decision to try and carve a slice around a tree from beside the hospitality tents in the left rough that saw his ball advance just 25 yards left the unlikeliest up-and-down for the championship.
His third shot went into the greenside bunker, his fourth over the green, fifth to force a playoff never threatened the cup before the sixth finally fell, and Ogilvy and the New York galleries were left stunned at what had just transpired.
“I think I was the beneficiary of a little bit of charity,” Ogilvy later said.
“I was hitting that putt thinking this may get me in a playoff. I was pretty nervy over it; it was a pretty big putt. But I never thought Phil would make bogey at the last. He’ll hit it on the green, make a par, make New York happy, but it worked out in my favour.
“Sometimes things go your way and sometimes they don’t, and I’m glad it happened in the US Open.”
WHAT FOLLOWED
In the immediate aftermath of his Major triumph Ogilvy moved into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings for the first time, a status he would hold for 120 weeks during his career.
Renowned for his interest in golf course architecture, Ogilvy’s best results invariably came at the game’s biggest events.
When he won the Accenture Match Play for a second time in 2009 Ogilvy was second only to Tiger Woods for most World Golf Championship wins and he won the annual congregation of PGA TOUR winners in Hawaii in consecutive years in 2009 and 2010.
A strong supporter of the PGA Tour of Australasia, Ogilvy continued his success when he returned home, winning the 2008 Australian PGA Championship at Coolum and the 2010 Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney.
Ogilvy recorded eight top-10 finishes in Major championships during his career, his last coming at the 2012 Open Championship at Royal Lytham.
