Date: October 08, 2007
Author: Steve Orme

Ogilvy eyes Australian Open crown

Australia&aposs most recent major winner Geoff Ogilvy is back on home soil following another successful, if not spectacular year, on the US PGA Tour. The 2006 US Open champion finished a tidy 13th in the inaugural FedEx Cup points-race, on the back of seven top-10 finishes in 22 events. In Sydney on Monday to help launch the 2007 MFS Australian Open to be staged in the harbour city in December, Ogilvy offered a frank appraisal of his 2007 exploits. “Good stuff and bad stuff,” he said of his season. “I did alright in the (WGC Accenture) Match Play again and I just fell over at the last hurdle there.” “And at the (US) Masters I kind of fell over with 22 holes to play which is a shame because I was kind of in it.” “The last few tournaments I played on the US Tour were pretty good, the PGA (Championship) I finished top-10 and I had a couple of decent events in that FedEx Cup thing (the Fed Ex Cup Playoffs).” “From 100 yards in I really improved a lot this year but from outside 100 yards I was below par I think for me.” The 30-year-old now plans to take advantage of the early finish to his US campaign to finetune his skills in time for the 2008 season. “I&aposm happy with where my game is at and I&aposve got quite a bit of time off really – I don&apost really start until the end of January next year so I&aposm going to have a good amount of time to work on the game,” he said. “I think I&aposm pretty convinced I know where I&aposm at and how I need to get to where I need to go.” But before launching another assault on the world&aposs biggest tour, Ogilvy will look to add a national Open title to his growing list of tournament victories. When asked where the Australian Open sits on the pecking order of tournaments he desires most, the 2007 runner-up admitted: “It&aposs pretty high.” “Last year frustrated me a bit because I thought I was in pretty good shape with two holes to play and (eventual winner John) Senden birdied two of the harder holes on the course.” “I&aposll be honest it&aposs probably fifth on my list of tournaments I want to win in the world and that&aposs the reality of the situation.” “There&aposs four majors and then this is number one after those – so it&aposs pretty high on the list,” Ogilvy said.