What they said: Geoff Ogilvy

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MORE INTERVIEWS: SBS Championship transcript archive

JOHN BUSH: We would like to welcome the 2010 champion, at the SBS Championship, Geoff Ogilvy, after a 6-under par 67. He immediately collects 500 FedExCup points and takes the early lead. Geoff, just a tremendous play, another great week at Kapalua for you.

GEOFF OGILVY: Yes, what do you say? I enjoy the whole week,obviously I played really well. It's nice to come back to defending a tournament, the first time I've ever defended a golf tournament which is pretty exciting. The first win of the year, first week with new golf clubs, brand new driver, brand new irons, perfect. I played good again. I got such a good feel going around this golf course. I enjoyed it. I was a little frustrated when we came up the 9th fairway. I hadn't seen the scores in a while, and I didn't know where Rory started the day, obviously 11-under. But he probably really wasn't on the map at the start of the day. So coming up 9 or 10, with nine holes to play, we knew what we had to do. I had to shoot 3- under the last three holes. It's hard to make birdies when you have to make birdies. I have had that situation with a couple of holes to play. But never had that situation with nine holes to play. So I'm pretty proud of the fact that I feel like I managed to shoot a few under on the back 9 when I needed to

Q. A, a lot of pressure that you felt? B, were you starting to look at holes, this is where I can pick up, et cetera?

GEOFF OGILVY: The pressure, when you are playing in the last group, saying your the only ones in the tournament, or there is only the people around you in the tournament, it's the great unknown of what you got to do. So I think there is more pressure there. The pressure is off when it's black and white. You get to 22 under, or 21, at least, or it's all over. So it's a different type of pressure. I think when know it's less intimidating, I guess. The great unknown you are never really sure. You play with a guy who is right with you, he could go eagle birdie, you just don't know. If you follow their shots and think about their shots. I had a definite idea of what was going on. 15 was playing easy today. It was very reachable anyway. 14 is always a birdie hole. And if you are playing well there is often a birdie 10 through 13. I wanted to obviously get in front before 18. I didn't want to have to birdie 18. 18 is a birdie hole. It's nice to have to make birdies. I was happy laying up on 14.

Q. Was there any discussion?

GEOFF OGILVY: No discussion.

Q. (Inaudible)?

GEOFF OGILVY: He didn't like it. The pin is great if you miss it right. Horrible if you miss it left. I don't know what Lucas. He had to go back to the tee. If you don't do that, you're horrible. From where I was, I'm pitching the ball quite well. It's an easy pitch to get within ten feet. I had a good one at 4. He can disagree. That's what he would have done.

Q. Happy to lay up?

GEOFF OGILVY: I was happy to make a smart play and have it pay off, and you wonder why you made a smart choice.

Q. Same thing on 9?

GEOFF OGILVY: Same thing. The distance, I was perfect, my second shot was three or four yards to the right. It was going to be ten feet from the hole. 3-iron left me in a perfect kind of 5-wood distance, I thought. I'm never that worried about it being just short of that green. You could get in trouble there if you are pin-high. I got lucky, I had a good line to the green. If you put me there, I will be quite happy with it. I figure hit a 3-iron, if it's short, then it's not that tough

Q. Given what you did last year?

GEOFF OGILVY: I didn't know, I didn't question it. That's why he is there. I was happy with my decision. More happy today than I was than any other day. I felt that was the right pin to lay it up on. It was a 4-iron and a 60 yard pitch. I like my pitching game. It's actually easier now with the grooves. I'm sure they talked about grooves all week. The shot was easier with new grooves than old grooves because it doesn't want to spin as much. It is hard to get it to the hole. I had no thoughts because it looked right for a 4-iron and a lob wedge and that left pin and it worked out. The other guy in my group hit driver and it didn't work out. He was really unlucky. But there was a few good places a driver could go and so many bad places it could go. The tournament is not over if I make par, it is over if I make double. 16 was playing easy today. I didn't think it was worth the risk.

Q. Geoff, you are 46 under here over the last two years, how much do you like this golf course? How comfortable are you here.

GEOFF OGILVY: I like the golf course. I think it's fair to say. Obviously I really enjoy it. My first couple of times, it was crazy windy the first couple of times I was here. The first year I was here it was the brand new greens, really firm. You would land on one side, it would go to the back edge. 7, you would have to hit it to the front edge to keep it on the green. There would be squalls, rain, frustrating weather. I didn't understand the paradise part of it. I like the paradise at the hotel. But you came back up the hill and it was rainy and windy. I didn't get it to be honest with you. But my next time back was last year, this is my fourth time here. It was gentle trades all week. I played well. I think my game has developed more to a game that would suit a place like this. My pitching has got really good. You have 30 to 80 yards a lot, whether it's a third shot on par-5s, or second shot on short par-4's. I feel really good about that part of the game. It's come a long way since I started coming here. My game has grown into suiting go this course. I love having space off the tee, having big slopes you can use. Having par-4's you can try to go for, or lay-up, both being good plays. I think it's a really good golf course considering the extreme, the land that it's on. It could have been quite frightening on a piece of land like this. But they did a great job. It's really fun to play, I think.

Q. Geoff, did you think your ball was in the hazard at 6 when you hit it?

GEOFF OGILVY: Yes. As soon as I made contact I knew it was bad. I mean it's a bad spot to hit it. It's bad. But because it's a hazard you can drop it. As soon as you hit in there, the worse you can do is 5. You could make 4. I didn't want to hit the shot in there but as soon as I made contact, yes, it was gone. Lucas's bounced to the left. It bounced left and still went in. I didn't know. He got a bit unlucky there I thought.

Q. The other part playing with Lucas today, you talk about what it's like when a guy shoots a number, and you have to go for it in a final round, what was that like playing with him knowing he was self destructing as you were slowly trying to win the golf tournament?

GEOFF OGILVY: It's hard to watch. He had the lead all week, and he is playing really well. He got a couple of bad breaks. It didn't work out. A perfect example on 4, he hit a great drive up there. It hangs up in the rough, the ball is above his feet, he is going to end up 80 feet. It's a good drive if gets to the roll, he is flicking it on to the green. Little things like that. When I starts going the wrong way in windy days it's tough. It sucks because I've been there. I've had horrible Sundays. It's a really long day. It's frustrating. It was ashame for him, but I really like playing with him. He is one of the nicest guys on TOUR. He took it in a great spirit. He is playing really well. So I'm sure next week he will play well. It's one of those days. Everyone has them.

Q. Geoff, talk about the grooves now that the first PGA week is in the books. Can you assess how it played any shots that were squirrely or you approached differently strategy-wise?

GEOFF OGILVY: My only different groove clubs are my wedges. My irons have always been 10 legal, I guess. There is definitely a difference. Especially out of Bermuda rough. I had a shot into 10 from the left rough, I don't know if any of you remember it, it was a pretty good lie. The old stuff I would have been confident with a lob wedge and feel I could get some sort of spin on it. It wasn't sitting down. It was sitting nicely. It [rolls|roles] up the face with lob wedges. When I was a kid, I used to hit it. It's doing that now, sand wedge passed the hole. I can't be as aggressive on that shot. It's definitely an impact. Normal shots, no, like out of grass, out of short grass, fairway is pretty good. Once you get half wages out of that stuff, it's different. I think it's good because I think we've been getting away with it too much. At least in this Bermuda rough. In other grass, I don't how much difference it will make. It's not going to spin out of the rough. It's going to roll up the face. It's a bit of a difference. In some aspects, like the shot on 14, it's an easier shot. But the club is not going to spin quite as much. You take some away here, and you get some back over here.

Q. That was with from the fairway though, is it different from the fairway?

GEOFF OGILVY: Not significantly different but there is enough. There is a little difference. It's not going to affect the way you play. It's not changing the way we play. The shots are slightly different. The rough there is a difference for me. So I'm sure guys who had big grooves in their irons, having to make big adjustments with their irons. I've been hitting a flier now and then with my irons for years. If guys hadn't been doing that, it's going to be an adjustment. But for us, it's a similar change. When they did spin a lot, you didn't know if it was going to spin. Sometimes it did and sometimes it didn't. Now you know. It's not going to spin. There is something to be said for 9, what it's going to do. It doesn't matter what it does. If you know what it's going to be, it's playable. We lost a bit, but we gained some somewhere else.

Q. You had a long wait on the last tee, I was wondering what was going through your head?

GEOFF OGILVY: We were chatting about World Cup football to be honest with you. You would prefer to walk straight on, walk up and hit it. It's not that nice to have that. But it made a couple of issues earlier on with groups backing up. You prefer not to have 5 minutes to stand on the tee. But saying that of all of the tee shots we play on TOUR, that's probably one that's not so bad to be waiting on. It's not like Riviera, or not one of the tee shots of the year. The second shot is awkward. It could go wrong. The tee shot is wide and forgiving. It's a fair vista you are looking at. It's a nice place to be standing. So preferably I would have like had to have walked up and hit it. It wasn't too bad. Character building, maybe.

Q. Geoff, we probably asked you this last year, too, what are the main similarities between this golf course and at home in Australia?

GEOFF OGILVY: We don't play many Bermuda greens. Not where I grew up. But we have big slopes like this. The green slopes are similar. (Inaudible) you'll have shots where you'll want to land it just next to the hole. You land it 15 yards short and 6 yards to the right. There is a lot of that around here which is interesting. This is more extreme because of the land it's but the principle is the same. The whole day the first hole you are rarely hitting it at the pin here. The first off the slope, second off the slope, third off the slope, fourth right off the slope. That's all day. Australia has a lot like that. You rarely go straight at the pin. You try to use a slope to get to it. I would say that's similar, unless you stop it at the hole. You attack it. What happens on the ground matters in Australia. And I think here is similar.

Q. Are the winds pretty similar?

GEOFF OGILVY: It's more consistent with wind here but we do play a lot of wind in Australia, yes.

Q. Geoff, I know you spoke briefly on TV about what you learned last year not, can you expand on that?

GEOFF OGILVY: Well, obviously, I started really well. I played so well here last year, and I played really well in the Match Play, played great at Houston, played all right at the Masters. After that I think it goes awry . I hit a few more balls and practice harder. All of a sudden you push harder. I had one good round at Memorial, but the rest was rubbish. Crazy rain on Saturday. It was freakish, before you know it, it's the middle of the year and I am still struggling for two months, and I hit more balls and I chased it too hard as opposed to getting it to come back. I take a week off and ride my bike for 10 days. Do something completely different. Then let it comeback. I think I forced it too much because it started coming back. Actually I wasn't that happy with the way I was playing until after the President's Cup. Something didn't click when I played Stricker in singles, but I had a moment of clarity, if you like, about what are you trying so hard for? It's a ball and there is a hole. Just hit it that way. What are you doing? That was a simplified perspective and just stopped forcing it that way. Just hit it that way. Just hit it. Just simplify it. But that's basically what it was. Not do that again. Keep it simple the whole time.

Q. Can you quantify how many balls you hit last year compared to previous years?

GEOFF OGILVY: A lot. If I go back 10 or 15 years, I went through periods I hit a lot of balls. When I played Europe, I hit a lot of walls. Whether they help me or not I still wanted to do it. I was just turning pro and I thought when you missed the cut you were supposed to stay and hit balls on the weekend. That's what you did. You are still trying to make it at that point. You hadn't had any proof. That what you do. You read all of the books on the pros, and that's all they did, putt and chip and do all of that. The last 10 years, this is rubbish. You got to practice. But it's scoring practice, short game stuff, play a lot more holes, have fun, play with good players. Last year, I had it in my head I wanted to get something done with my golf swing. Houston I got to work on this. I hit a few balls. Augusta, I hit balls after the round. I never hit balls after a round. Augusta, I hit balls after every round. It's addictive hitting balls. You get out and the mission becomes hitting well on the range, rather than the course. You are happy the way it's going. This is great when it's finally started working. And then it's September, or October. I don't know how many balls. Instead of just going to a tournament hitting 20 or 30 before, I was hitting balls afterwards. I was going home hitting balls for a few hours. We are not talking Vijay here. But a couple hundred a day as opposed to 30 for a period. It turned out to be not the right thing to do.

Q. This is a vague question, but how good do you think you can be?

GEOFF OGILVY: I don't know, when it's good, it's really good. I like how I play when I play good. So I'm not concerned about how good I can be when I'm actually playing well, because I think I can hang with most guys. I haven't shown that I could do well when maybe my game is a little off. I think that's the signs of really great player. Tiger has made a career out of winning tournaments. He has won a lot by 10. But he has won tournaments in the past that he shouldn't have. He found a way to win. I think I need to get to that sort of point. I think I can. I don't know. I think I can be a player who can win any golf tournament I play. I just got to work to get through the bad days and bad patches. I think I can. I have to work on how to do it.

Q. You won a lot of tournaments but you struggled in the Majors, how do you transfer that?

GEOFF OGILVY: I started going to all of the golf courses before the Majors. I started doing stuff that I didn't do before. Overpreparing, if you like. And then you couldn't be to prepared. If you add an element of pressure on yourself, that wouldn't be there. I didn't come here two weeks ago scouting the course. Why do you do it at Augusta? One, because it's fun. Everyone loves playing Augusta when there is no crowd or patrons there. That's one of my favorite days of the year. It does add an extra element of stress, when you get there, I got to play well because I prepared. Why isn't it going well after the first round? I'm not thinking those sort of things. I think I got to treat it more like normal tournaments. Obviously play an extra practice round or two. But not go overboard with making everything right for the week. Just go and play a golf tournament.

Q. Geoff, last year you spoke about the tricky aspects of taking a big lead into the final round, was victory this year more enjoyable coming from behind?

GEOFF OGILVY: Was it more enjoyable? This is quite satisfying because starting the day I guess you assume I got to beat Lucas and maybe the group in front of us. You obviously know you have to go low because it didn't appear the guy starting the day at 11-under par would be the guy you had to beat. As I said, it was satisfying with nine holes to play knowing that I had to have 3-under or better, or it's not going to happen. I guess especially through the end of the front 9. I don't know if there is a leader board between 5 and 9, not that I noticed or looked at. Maybe there is. I don't know if there is. You come up at 9, that's your assessment of how it's going on 9 because it's the first one you've seen for a while. All of a sudden the guys have gone 9, 10, 11, 12, make a few birdies and the leader board always looks like lower scores on 9, than you kind of expect a little bit from me here. But to play the last nine holes knowing what I had to do, and actually do it is pretty satisfying, completely different. Last year I was having a bit of a mental issue with myself until I eagled 9, then all of a sudden I was happy. It is a lot of fun coming down the last few holes, knowing really whatever I do, it's doesn't matter. That's kind of fun. It's satisfying to do it this way.

Q. Coming back to the Majors how did they set up for you? What do you think of U.S. at Pebble?

GEOFF OGILVY: I guess they set up pretty good. I haven't played U.S. Open at Pebble. Obviously it's Pebble Beach, everyone loves it. I only played it in the AT&T once.

Q. Are you playing AT&T?

GEOFF OGILVY: I would. But we are having a baby right about that time. So I would have done. St. Andrews, the last time I played good in the British Open was at St. Andrews.. I had a few bad ones at the British Open the last few years. But St. Andrews was one of my first really good Majors, I think. I've played there a lot of times. I played it three times as an amateur. I probably played the course 30 times, and I love the place. Whistling Straits I play okay. I enjoyed Whistling Straits. It was a fun tournament. I didn't know what to expect. It was completely manmade links course in Wisconsin. You have no idea what you are going to walk up to. It was a bit was impressive. A couple of odd holes, 15 and 16 are good ones. Augusta is Augusta. This is the crown jewel of Majors. And St. Andrews, everyone wants to play all 4.

Q. Geoff, not to harp on last year after Match Play, how much does what you learn from yourself help you in A, getting more consistent? And B, how will you spin that forward when you get yourself in a similar funk and you will, because you are a golfer down the road?

GEOFF OGILVY: Hopefully, I think from a golfer's perspective is not trying to work out golf. When I think golf goes wrong, you are trying to work the game out. I think the art of it is working yourself out. I think instead of trying to fix my golf problems, assess -- the only thing changes in golf is the person playing it. Not the sport. The sport stays the same. The only variable is the person playing it. So you are trying to work out yourself, rather than work out the game. When you take that perspective, I think you can only learn hopefully. I think I'm a slow learner, but a pretty good learner. I think it's taking me a long time to work stuff out that I probably should have worked out earlier, but at least I'm working it out. I think most years I'm better off in some aspects that I wasn't the year before. It's trial by error a lot of times. Maybe I'm completely wrong with not hitting balls, and take an extra week off if you can. Hopefully it just goes well. Keep it simple. I don't know. It's a hard game.

Q. Geoff, when Stuart was winning three straight here, some folks started calling it Stuart's house, is it Geoff Ogilvy's house now?

GEOFF OGILVY: I don't think so. I have had a lot of success. When you see someone win a tournament three times. It was exciting for Australians. I think I was here for the second and the third. I'm happy that I defended a golf tournament. The first one, I'm coming back here. It's such a great place to start. I've been in the U.S. and we bump across here, it's paradise. Or we are in Australia, it's on the way back. It's good for us. I don't know about Geoff's House. But the last two years, we brought some good game here and playing quite well, yes.

Q. You are the 9th straight non-American winner, is there any explanation you can think of for that?

GEOFF OGILVY: No. You guys can debate that one. I have no idea why that's true, I don't know. I don't know.

Q. Because Tiger is not here?

GEOFF OGILVY: That's one of your reasons. You would have to think if he played the last 9 years he would have perhaps won one of the last nine years, but you never now. He played Riviera 10 times and never won.

Q. Along those lines to wrap up with, is it a fair assessment, I hope this doesn't sound to stupid, is that players are the last ones who really aren't thinking about Tiger's absence this year. It's more media, corporate, TOUR driven?

GEOFF OGILVY: I think the media is definitely fueling the story. We are obviously all curious, I would say. But the media is definitely -- 95 percent of stuff that's written about golf has been about him. So you have to fill that 95 percent with something, so you keep writing about him. You are used to writing about Tiger. When he is not there, you will find something to write about him. But guys that are curious, interested, is he come back? Is he having five years off? Is he ever coming back? What's going on? But that I think is the general curiosity in the locker room than any real worry or stress.

Q. I just wonder, I kind of got a sense, at Chevron there was a lot of activity that week, once you got to Sunday you had a tournament that you were paying attention to, the same here, how long do you think that kind of topic would linger throughout the year? Any thoughts on that?

GEOFF OGILVY: It's going to linger for a while. It's lost a bit of sting in the tabloids, hasn't it? Which is going to happen. He is, to that point, the best golfer ever, or appeared to be on the way there. And the most written about golfer, and the most publicized golfer and everything. It's going to take a long time. The question, when do you think Tiger is going to come back, there will be less and less until he comes back. There is always a few reasons to come back. It's Bay Hill, he always wins there. Or Doral, he always wins there, or Augusta. There is always going to be a reason if you guys ask questions. It's probably got to a point where it's talked about Tuesday, Wednesday, this is the first week of the year, the first time you've seen all of us, next week it will be back because of the first full field. But then it will be back to business as usual. The questions will be there. There will be more about the players, they will stay there until he comes back. It's a big story.

JOHN BUSH: Geoff, par-4 on the first hole

GEOFF OGILVY: Birdie on first. Unbelievable birdie, really. It played long again. Not quite as long as yesterday. I hit a 5-wood in which I definitely never done. I hit a great shot. You try to hit on the left edge of the green, when you got a wood in your hand. From the top of the hill with a wood, I'm coming up the left edge of the green and have it roll in the middle of the green and it came off perfect. I had a 25-footer on that hole. I'm sure a lot of guys make bogey. It was a big bonus there. 5th, that's a hole I guess most guys shoot birdie. It played long today. 5-wood on the green, 2-putted, relatively painful. 6, drove it into the hazard. It was windy off to the left. It wasn't going anywhere. I dropped and to 2-putted. I hit a bad shot. If you are going to do it, it isn't that bad a spot to do it. Eighth, played harder today, longer, 5-iron. Hit a good shot. Made it. 9, 3-iron, 5-wood again, pin to my left. I had a really good lie. This grass doesn't lay down, it wears it away. It was a short chip shot. It wasn't too bad. 11, a bonus. One of the best par-3s we play on the TOUR. Stunning, cool green. It's always awkward. It feels like you really have to pull a club. You don't want to hit a hard one, you always feel like you want to do this. I shot 25 feet short. A good putt, a bonus putt really. That was one of the bonus birdies for that period. Like Doug alluded to, perhaps you had some holes where you thought these are my birdie hole. 11 is not one of them. I hit a 7-iron. 14, 14, really happy with the game plan there. I think I hit driver Thursday hit it in the junk. I got away with it. I might have laid up on Sunday. I didn't feel it. Today was perfect to hit a 4-iron up there 60, 70 yards. I can't imagine anything more frustrating than missing the green to the left and not getting it up and down. I could have hit a perfect wedge and had a guaranteed 10-footer. So I was happy with the game plan, as I said it is nice to play smart and have it work for you. 15, driver, 5-wood, 2 perfect shots. Perfect yardage, second shot. That was nice. 9 times out of 10 most guys miss that green to the right. I'm one of them. Today, the wind off to the left, everything about that shot was comfortable yardage. Happy with a nice wind and it came off. It was probably a yard away from going all the way down to the right. All in all, I was happy with it.. I had a good putt.

Q. You spoke so much about your pitching which was good again this year. I never heard you mentioned the word 5-wood so much over three or four days, how key was that club for you that week?

GEOFF OGILVY: Really key, because I was a 2-iron guy until about this time last year probably. I would have always put it in play on a course like this because it's windy. It's a club that I'm managing to hit a lot of variety of shots. I can hit bunt ones, and low ones. I can draw a long way which was nice. It's a club with a lot of variety, a 2-iron. I always hit a 2-iron quite well. But a 2-iron, what do you got? You got a 2-iron. You can hit it long. A 5-wood you can go up, down. It used to be I hit it low. I did happen to have it a lot here. My 3-wood is quite strong. The gap between my 3-iron is probably 60 yards. Any time you're in those 60 yards, I'm hitting some sort of 5-wood.

Q. It's working?

GEOFF OGILVY: It's work ing, yes.

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