Life changed quickly for Geoff Ogilvy on Sunday at the U.S. Open..
One minute the lanky Australian was a relatively unknown pro with two wins on his resume. The next he was the national champion delivering one-liners on the David Letterman Show via the “Top 10’’ list.
On Tuesday morning, Ogilvy was on his way back “Down Under,’’ primed with the knowledge that he is only the second Aussie to win the U.S. Open since David Graham in 1981. Needless to say, he was hailed as the conquering hero upon arriving in his hometown of Melbourne.
So what kind of guy is Geoff Ogilvy, who spends much of the year at his residence in north Scottsdale? For the most part, very down to earth and likeable, and not one bit full of himself after winning his third tournament of his young career, the first being the 2005 Chrysler Classic of Tucson followed by this year’s World Match Play Championship.
Asked how winning the U.S. Open would change his life, the 29-year-old gave a grounded response: “Hopefully, I don’t change at all. . . . I don’t really want to.’’
This from a guy who is a distant relative of Sir Angus Ogilvy, part of Britain’s royal family, and an even more distant relative of Scotland’s legendary Robert the Bruce, the king of Bannockburn fame.
If further references are needed, one of the higher profiled members at Whisper Rock, Gary McCord, gave this testament on Ogilvy’s character.
“When I first met Geoff, I thought, ‘Why isn’t this kid winning more tournaments?’’ said the CBS commentator who lives in Scottsdale and plays on the Champions Tour.
“He does what all great players do. He drives it long and straight, hits his irons as high as Tiger (Woods), and has a deft touch around the greens. He’s smart, too.
“If anything, he’s always been kind of hard on himself; his worst critic. But apparently he’s finally figured out how to win the big one.’’
About the only thing Ogilvy can’t do, McCord added, is win the club championship at Whisper Rock, which is the home course to over 20 touring professionals. One of those is Phil Mickelson, who designed the first course at Whisper Rock and was the guy who had the lead at the U.S. Open up until the 72 nd hole.
“It’s a tough group up there,’’ McCord said of the competition within the club, where thanks to Mickelson its members have claimed the past three major championships.
“One year (in the club championship), Geoff and I are standing on the 18 th tee, dead-even, and I said to him, ‘Well, you better win this hole or I’ll never let you hear the end of it on TV,’’ McCord quipped. “So he gets a par and I make bogey, and he loses by 10 (shots) and I lose by 11.
“Then another year, he gets toasted by Jimmy Strickland on the final day with a 60, and that’s just the way goes. But give Geoff credit, because he always comes back for more.’’
Gregg Tryhus, the Scottsdale developer who built Whisper Rock, also had high words of praise for the low-key Ogilvy.
“I’ve known him now for about five years, and he is a very intelligent, respectful kid with a whole lot of talent,’’ Tryhus said. “He has everyone’s respect at Whisper Rock, and he’s the kind of guy who will go out there and play golf with anybody regardless of who they are.’’
According to Ogilvy’s agent, Paul Galli, the reaction to his most-famous client has been “simply through the roof.’’
“Life has been a lot busier since Sunday, but it’s a real good kind of busy,’’ Galli said. “Now he’s looking ahead to the British, and then he’ll return to Scottsdale shortly after that.’’
In between, Ogilvy said he plans to kick back and “just take it easy.’’
“I’ll have a few weeks to think about it, let it sink in,’’ Ogilvy said of the win that vaulted him from No. 17 to No. 8 in the world. “The British Open is one of my favorite tournaments, and hopefully I can play well there again.’’
Last year, Ogilvy tied for fifth in the British, and followed it up with a tie for sixth in the PGA Championship. This year, playing in his first Masters, he ended up 16 th, so obviously the guy is on a bit of a roll in the majors.
This was just his third start in the U.S. Open, a tournament, where he tied for 28 th last year. His startling finish Sunday even surprised his parents.
“We always thought he was going to win a big one, but we always thought it would be the Masters or the British Open,’’ his mother, Judy Ogilvy, told the Australian Associated Press. “The U.S. Open was never really his strength; it’s not really the tournament his game is best suited to. . . .
“He’s got the will to beat Tiger (Woods). And I suspect that’s what’s in the back of his mind now.’’
Perhaps, but according to his friends, you would never get Ogilvy, a kid who grew up on the municipal golf courses of Australia, to say that. Hey, he couldn’t believe his five-foot putt to save par on the final hole at Winged Foot could beat Mickelson: “I thought, ‘Make this and you come in second . . . that’s a pretty good result.’’
But that’s the thing that’s impressive about Ogilvy: he seems to take it all in stride. Like being paired with the all-in-pink Ian Poulter during Sunday’s final round, something that actually worked in his favor, he said.
“I guess in New York they’re going to yell at some one, and they tended to yell at the guy who’s dressed in pink,’’ he said with a laugh. “It was quite entertaining what they came up with.’’
Just not quite as entertaining as the tournament’s finish, a scenario so bizarre and surreal by his challengers that it almost overshadowed a guy who many feel will be the game’s next superstar.
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