By EDDIE PELLS
Associated PressTULSA, Okla. – The U.S. Open that Geoff Ogilvy won is better remembered as the one Phil Mickelson lost. Or the one Tiger Woods wasn’t there for.
If Ogilvy somehow winds up with major victory No. 2 at this year’s PGA Championship, it will be free of those sort of asterisks.
The Aussie shot 2-under 68 on Friday to wind up three shots behind Woods, the only major winner within five of the world’s best player with two rounds left at Southern Hills.
“It’s not really that ominous,” Ogilvy said of the, well, ominous task of catching Woods over the weekend. “He’s just a great player. He’s done pretty well when he’s the leader after two rounds and even better after three. But at some point, he’s not going to win.”
Woods, who tied the majors record with a 63 on Friday, is 7-0 in majors when he heads into the weekend with the lead. Of the six major winners Southern Hills has produced, none have had to come from behind after the first two rounds.
If there’s someone, anyone, in this field who might puncture those records at this tournament, Ogilvy seems like as good a choice as any.
What most people forget about his U.S. Open victory at Winged Foot last year was how hard he had to work through those brutal conditions to be in position to take advantage of Mickelson’s double-bogey on No. 18.
Long before Mickelson started with his theatrics, Ogilvy had chipped in from deep, mangled rough on the 17th hole to save par, then overcome a bad break on the 18th when his tee shot came to rest in a divot. He needed a 6-foot downhill putt to save par on that hole. When he did, he thought he’d finish in second for sure. Instead, he won because he wound up as the only one of the half-dozen or so contenders to finish the day with a par.
Some say any one-time major winner can’t wait to win his second so his membership in that exclusive club will be validated. And some might say that goes double for Ogilvy, given the role Mickelson played in his victory, and given the fact that Woods wasn’t even there for the weekend after missing the cut.
Ogilvy doesn’t buy into it. Or if he does, he doesn’t really care.
“I don’t really mind about validation,” he said. “It’d just be nice to win it. It would just be nice to win a golf tournament. The fact that it was a major would be really nice. I mean, I guess you get into more elite company when you’ve won two.”
For him to win his second this weekend, he’ll have to overcome a steep hill that was made even steeper with his bogey-bogey finish. For a short time, Ogilvy was actually tied with Woods at 5 under after making four birdies in six holes that included a 25-footer on No. 16, which is playing the fifth hardest so far this week.
Then, those late bogeys.
“It’s hard to talk to a guy five minutes after he bogeys the last two holes. I’m a little bit annoyed,” Ogilvy said. “But I’m happy. If you had asked me on the first day if 3 under would be a pretty good spot, I would say, yes, that’s pretty good.”
Now, all he has to overcome is Woods, and the 100-degree weather, and the crooked, shotmaking track that is Southern Hills.
It all seems quite daunting.
But Ogilvy has overcome big odds and big-name players before, whether he gets his due credit or not.
“It makes it easier, because now you’ve got nothing to lose if you don’t win because no one expects you to,” he said.
“And if you do,” he said, “you make history.”
Posted: 8/10/2007
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