Geoff Ogilvy is one putting streak away from contending.
All right, that’s my words, not his.
But after watching the veteran Victorian carve his second consecutive 71 to be sitting at two over at the midway point of the US Open, that’s about the worst scores he could have had.
Ogilvy, by his own admission, was “loose” for the first few holes today and leaked out to three over through eight holes on the back nine.
One of those was an erratic drive on the driveable par-four 12th hole that required a ruling that took almost 10 minutes.
The response to a difficult second shot summed up his game at that point – a neat blind pitch put him back into birdie position before three putts undid all the good work.
“It was frustrating … I was hitting good putts and they were running over the edges of the hole,” he said.
“But I found the golf swing the last 10 holes and hit lots of good shots and could have rolled a few in but didn’t.
“Nicely enough, though, I birdied the last two holes (including the 9th) which was a bonus.”
Ogilvy’s words are perfectly accurate and a complete understatement.
At more than one hole, those located around the greens told me that his was the best shot they’d seen into their hole all day.
Only the putter prevents more clear-cut evidence.
But back to Ogilvy’s more measured words.
“I don’t want to sound like a broken record about my putting … but two over is not the best score I could have had today, by a long stretch.
“But I think I’m probably still in the golf tournament. It won’t be far under par that wins this tournament so if I can have even a couple of high 60s rounds the next two days, I might go pretty close.
“I’ve been hitting it better as time goes on. It would be nice to hole a few but I feel like I’m getting a handle on it.”
You’ll have to trust me – if that happens fully, he’ll be right in the frame.