Defending champ Ogilvy fine with flying under radar

Geoff Ogilvy has spent a year as The Accidental U.S. Open champion. However, Ogilvy has proven in the past that he can get it done when it comes to the majors. So why is nobody talking about him this week?

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.com Correspondent

OAKMONT, Pa. – He really didn’t lose six balls on the course.

Just two.

And he didn’t shoot 85.

More like 83.

But he did lose to Adam Scott. By a dozen.

Yes, this place was a monster last week. Maybe five shots harder a week ago Monday when defending U.S. Open champ Geoff Ogilvy and Scott teed it up in a practice round than it is now. But just wait until Thursday morning.

Ogilvy knows all too well how the personality of a U.S. Open course can change overnight. He did, after all, survive those greens that were as smooth as a broccoli patch and the narrow fairways and the rough that can play with your mind.

You may think of him as the Open champ who won it a year ago because Colin Montgomerie, then Phil Mickelson, lost it. The Accidental Open champ, if you must But remember -- this man does know something about majors.

The Open may have been his first major title, but he came close in 2005 with a T5 at the British Open and a T6 at the PGA. Then he tied for 16th at both the 2006 Masters and British Open, won the Open and finished T9 at the PGA.

Can you say perennial short list?

He has the game and mindset to win more majors, yet he sails into Oakmont as an afterthought. Not a bet to become the first back-to-back Open winner since Curtis Strange in 1988-89.

And, yes, the outgoing Australian did say majors are easier to win than regular events. Kind of.

“. . . You've got to play better golf in a major to be at the top because the golf courses test more of your game,’’ he said. “But there's less players in the field who truly believe they can win one of these. You go to a regular TOUR event and there are 120 guys that really believe they can win that week. Here, there might be 20 guys, who going to bed on Wednesday night really believe that they can truly win a golf tournament. ‘’

At the same time, they’re harder to win because there are only four a year. And, you need to shoot a pair of 65s on the weekend to move up at a regular tournament.

“Whereas no one ever really runs away with a major save one guy who has done it a few times in the last ten years,’’ Ogilvy said. “A lot of times you can be in the top 20, have two OK rounds and finish fifth. They toughen the golf courses up and people start thinking about how good they are going to finish. Fields come back in majors; they don't keep going.’’

A year ago, it was Ogilvy who posted his number then waited. For a ball to bounce off a tent and a tree. For another ball to get stuck in a bunker.

“There's a bunch of people who think of last year and think about Phil, and there's probably a few people that think about me,’’ he said. “That's just the way it turned out. I'm not going to complain about it the way it turned out. It turned out how it turned out.’’

And no, he hasn’t really sat down and talked to Mickelson about that Sunday. Not yet.

“It's not really the right thing for, me I don't think, to bring up in conversation,’’ he said. “I'm sure we'll chat about it one day. I mean, we see each other out on golf tournaments and stuff, but we haven't really had a deep and meaningful about it.’

Instead, Ogilvy, a distant relative of Robert the Bruce, a king of Scotland, has spent the year being introduced on the first tee as U.S. Open champ and jumping to the top of the most honest-and-quotable list on TOUR. He’s seldom shy with a thought or opinion and, although he hasn’t won, he finished second to Henrik Stenson in the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, tied for third at the WGC-CA Championship and had two other top-nines, including a T9 at The Memorial.

“You guys actually care what I say now which is a bit random really,’’ he said.

But, like that title on the first tee, something that doesn’t get old.
 
“Hopefully that doesn't stop after this week,’’ he said.

He admits the way he won it was a little crazy and that the first couple of weeks after Winged Foot were nuts.

“I didn't fully appreciate how many people actually watch this golf tournament on TV or how many people -- this goes way beyond the normal golf,’’ he said. “You could win six regular tournaments on TOUR, and then the outside of the golf world would not know who you are, but you win this and everyone knows, or everybody saw it or heard about it, or someone else watched them and was telling them about it. It's amazing how many people I've bumped into who know, and people will go into a restaurant and know who I am and not Scotty, which is bizarre because he is much more recognizable than me.

“It's how far-reaching this tournament goes surprised me, actually. The rest was just a bit more attention here and there, as expected. But how many people actually know what happened and watched it last year is incredible.’’

And that his game is coming around at just the right time this year? Priceless.

They could set Oakmont up easy, he said, but he knows they won’t. What he does know is he’ll be prepared for what the course throws at him and he won’t put any added expectations on himself.

But, yes, he does want to win all four majors.

“I want to win a hundred golf tournaments and -- I mean, I want to win them all,’’ he said. “If I don't, I'll get over it, you know. I just like playing golf and I like playing golf well.

“If I do that, I think I'll be in with a chance to win these for another 10 years or so, and then I'll just stop playing and go sit on the beach in Australia. And if I've won one, then I've won one. And if I've won 10, I've won 10. And anywhere in the middle is -- would be fantastic.’’

No matter how they come.