Words: Paul Prendergast
Photo: Golfplus Media
Bathed in glorious sunshine and with massive crowds creating scenes of colourful pageantry, there can hardly have been a better place to be than at Victoria Golf Club on Saturday during the ISPS HANDA Australian Open.
An Australian Open on the Melbourne Sandbelt has been a long time coming on the men’s side of the ledger, 20 years to be exact, when Victorian Stephen Allan triumphed at this very course in a non-rain shortened 54-hole championship in 2002.
Visiting U.S. PGA champion Rich Beem remarked at the time after a round was cancelled when green speeds got to untenable levels that he’d never experienced a round being cancelled by good weather.
20 years is a long time and for someone like Geoff Ogilvy, a rare chance to perform not only at the course he grew up at but in the heart of the sandbelt that he grew up watching players like Norman, Baker-Finch and Grady contest Australian Opens in his youth.
Spare a thought then for the 45-year old when after a promising even par first round at Kingston Heath, the health gods were to tap him on the shoulder on the morning of his second round at Victoria.
One of the most untimely stomach bugs of his career sapped the former Australian Open champion’s energies at the worst possible time, battling to a seven-over 77and a premature end to an event he’s waited two decades to play.
Astute judges may have had him among the dark horses to contend this week too, especially after shooting 65 last Sunday at the Australian PGA Championship at Royal Queensland, a score matched but not bettered by anyone in the final round.
In typically self-deprecating style, Ogilvy’s first response after that round was to opine that it was ‘better’ than perhaps recent efforts, before progressively upping his level of praise as he contemplated his morning’s work.
He even conceded he was probably playing better than on other occasions when he’d returned home after seasons playing full-time on Tour.
I should say so too having borne witness to the bulk of the round, after originally planning to walk only a few holes with his agent before heading on to others including eventual champion Cameron Smith, Adam Scott and a Hojgaard or two.
Truth be told, it would have been folly to have done so as the quality of golf being produced by the former U.S. Open and multiple WGC champion was surely as good as any I was likely to witness elsewhere.
Routine pars to begin were followed by birdies at 3 and 4, another from tap-in distance after a deft pitch at 7 and again at 9 to make the turn in 4-under.
After leaving the group for a period, I found myself being drawn back in a short time later, having noticed he’d improved to 5-under through 11.
Clutch par putts at 12 and 13 definitely kept the momentum of the round going, even if the birdies dried up until stuffing a wedge to within a foot at the short 17th, evoking a rapturous response from the soon-to-be well-oiled patrons at this party hole setting.
Other than a pulled tee shot into a bunker on 7 from where he made par and perhaps a couple of slightly pushed drives on 7 and 18, it was one of those mellifluous performances from a seasoned professional that are a pleasure to watch.
The club face was found with monotonous regularity throughout, iron shots were routinely left pin high and in prime position and he was able to capitalise on many, but definitely not all, of his birdie chances with sound putting.
Indeed, but for a few putts left in the jaws and some bad luck with the positioning of green-side sprinkler heads in his line on 15, a 62 or better was not out of the question for this self-confessed ‘part-timer’ – perhaps better known these days as a creator of playing opportunities for young aspirants, course designer/architecture buff and global podcast royalty.
Greg Norman noted with amusement some years ago that a Florida coast guard official recognised him as ‘the wine guy’, as opposed to his profile as the highly recognisable former world No. 1 golfer, when their vessels crossed paths.
It’s a crying shame that it was illness that deprived Ogilvy of the opportunity this week to show local fans that the elite golfer that has been lying semi-dormant in recent years was lurking, not far from the surface.
