Date: July 10, 2012
Author: James Willoughby, Omnisport

Relaxed Ogilvy in the groove

Australian golfer Geoff Ogilvy is feeling good about his game ahead of the British Open following a lengthy mid-season break. After a shoulder injury interrupted his 2011 season, a hectic end to the year meant the Adelaide-born player began 2012 without the freshness needed to succeed on the PGA Tour. That is not to say Ogilvy has struggled in 2012. He has made 12 of 14 cuts on the PGA Tour and recorded four top-20 finishes in a consistent, but unremarkable, year of golf. But he is hoping a four-week break – which included the chance to recharge his batteries in Melbourne and watch his beloved St Kilda play two AFL matches – will give him the boost he needs ahead of a busy second half of the season. “I guess if you look back at the numbers, my results (this year) really aren&apost that good,” Ogilvy told reporters on Tuesday. “But I have felt like I have played quite well the whole time. That&aposs kind of why I took these four weeks off in the middle of the year. (My) game is in place and I&aposm pretty enthusiastic and fired-up. “Sometimes when you take a few weeks off, you can gain that extra level of … relaxed confidence. This will be the first break I&aposve had for more than two weeks for about two years. “I feel like I&aposve played well and I couldn&apost have done much more. But there&aposs obviously more I could have got out of it and maybe that&aposs just the mental freshness I needed.” The 35-year-old has spent plenty of time in the gym during his break and is confident he can put in a good performance at the British Open – golf&aposs third major of the year – which begins at the Royal Lytham & St. Annes Golf Club in Lancashire next Thursday. “The body feels good. It is 100 percent and it is as good as I have ever felt,” he said. “I&aposve always played well after a break, whether it be one or two or three weeks. (For) a week and a half (I) didn&apost touch a club. (Then) I&aposve been playing a little bit here and practising a little bit here and it all feels really good. “I feel like my golf is in a pretty good spot. There&aposs no reason why I can&apost play really well next week.” To play well, Ogilvy will have to reverse history. He has missed the cut in seven of his nine British Opens – something he says is &aposweird for me&apos given his form as a youngster on Links-style courses – but when he has made it to the weekend, he has performed well. Ogilvy tied for fifth at the 2005 event and also tied for 16th in 2006 before missing five cuts in a row at the tournament. Ogilvy lifted the U.S. Open in 2006 and six years on he is still the last Australian to win a major, a record which will give him even more motivation to perform in next week&aposs tournament. “You win one (major) and you realise how nice, how good it is and the lifelong achievement (it) is,” he said. “You just want to do it again. “I almost want to win one more now than I did before I won one, because I know how good it can be.”