Greensboro, NC …
“Mission Accomplished” declared Geoff Ogilvy after the double comfort of securing his PGA Tour card for next season and in the immediate future qualifying for Thursday’s start to the lucrative FedEx Cup Play-Off series.
Not since he first went to Q-School nearly 19-years ago has Ogilvy endured the pressure he found himself this week at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina.
For Ogilvy and many of his PGA Tour colleagues it was a PGA Tour ‘Last Chance Saloon’ and with the 40-year old proud Australian right on the cusp at 125th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Geoff Ogilvy finds shade after declaring ‘Mission Accomplished’ and securing his Tour card for the 2017/18 PGA Tour season
The 2006 U.S. Open accepted the challenge with a no-frills first day 70 but then had everyone sitting-up to take notice with 66s over day two and day three, and this after having been projected following the second round to end his season ranked 132nd.
Then if to put an exclamation mark on his goal Ogilvy cut a Sunday morning swath through the field producing an outward nine of a four-under par 29 and highlighted in holing a 93-yard wedge shot for an eagle ‘2’ at the short par four, eighth hole.
Ogilvy had earlier birdied the first, fifth and sixth hole and also birdied the ninth.
But there was some uncertainly over Ogilvy’s inward half when he sandwiched a 15th hole birdie in between double bogeys at the 11th and 17th holes.
However, there was the assurance as he walked from the course when a PGA Tour official confirmed Ogilvy had, in fact, jumped seven places to 118th on the FedEx Cup standing and confirmation he will tee-up on New York’s Long Island Thursday in the Northern Trust.
“This is mission accomplished meaning the mission I set out with this week has been accomplished”, he said.
“It was a mission I had from the Frys.com at the start of the season up until standing here late on Sunday at the Wyndham.
“Now I have a good opportunity next week and get myself to the second FedEx Cup Play-Off event in Boston which is a course I have played well at in the past.
“After that who knows? I am clearly playing quite well and if I can play like this next week and have a similar week and a similar sort of finish then I might qualify myself for Boston.
“So, mission accomplished but now the mission changes.
“But standing here I’m absolutely shagged. I’m pretty tired and it won’t take many beers to do the job to get me asleep tonight”, he said smiling.
Ogilvy’s electrifying first nine holes reads: birdie, three pars, birdie, birdie, par, eagle and par.
And given the circumstances of the occasion Ogilvy believes he has not pasted together a finer nine-holes since turning pro in July 1998.
“My opening seven holes was the best seven holes, and in the situation I was in whether it was winning a tournament or not winning a tournament,” he said.
“I don’t know where that came from but it came from somewhere.
“For whatever reason, I always better in situations like this week when I absolutely have to. I think also why match-play has always suited me because if you are playing the first hole and your opponent hits it close, I know you have to hit it closer.
“You have no choice and I felt it was a situation clearly on Friday either you want to do this and hold onto your card or go home. There was just no option but to play well.
“Look, if I wasn’t on the 125, I probably would have turned the front-9 into a low 60 round, it felt like I was playing that well. There’s a level of tension and stress in your body that’s on a different level when you’re in that position.
“I haven’t felt that since Q-School. Even to be fair, QSchool, when I did Q-School here I had nothing to lose because I already had my card in Europe. I loved playing in Europe. I was just coming over here just to see, this is going to be a better deal if I can play here but, if not, I won’t, I’ll play in Europe. It wasn’t a job or no job situation. I already had a job. It was just somewhere else.”
And helping encourage Ogilvy in this quest was dozens and dozens of text and email messages.
“I have had tons of messages and clearly it has been a story on Golf Channel what with the guys like myself who were around the bubble”, he said.
“I am sure Twitter has been exploding so I have plenty of messages, and without singling out any particular message it is just nice to know people do care.
“It is nice to know that people want the best for you”.
And after such an inspirational four days in Greensboro, Qgilvy was cheekily asked if he thought he could be a wildcard pick later next month for the International Presidents Cup team, and even though he is heading to New Jersey as a vice-captain.
“Give me a break, Bernie”, he said smiling.
“I would have to win twice. I would have to win the next two weeks and if I did I would say ‘Hey, Pricey what do you thing?’ That would be the only way if I was to win the next two weeks”.
