Ogilvy takes long way around to make his tee time

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Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Geoff Ogilvy shot a 65 on an hour's sleep at the Transitions Championship on Saturday.

INNISBROOK, Fla. -- You know those "Quiet" signs the gallery marshals hoist into the air when players are preparing to hit their shots? Well, someone needed to be holding one outside Geoff Ogilvy's hotel room on Saturday afternoon.

He deserved a little peace and quiet. After all, Ogilvy had spent the better part of Friday night traveling from Tampa to Phoenix -- and back again -- to make his 8:50 a.m. tee time for the third round of the Transitions Championship.

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The Aussie played on about an hour's sleep and shot a 65 that moved him within shouting distance of the leaders at 4 under. Not bad for someone who thought he was going to miss the cut when he finished 36 holes at 2 over.

"It's weird," the weary Ogilvy said as he retold the saga before heading off to take a much-deserved nap. "It happens a lot -- beware the injured golfer."

A sleepy one, at least. On Friday, when seemingly everyone was going low, Ogilvy had been tied for 85th as he finished the second round. So he booked a flight home for around 6 p.m. and headed to the Tampa airport at about 3 o'clock.

That's when things started to get interesting.

Ogilvy was drinking a beer and checking the scores on the computer when all of a sudden he noticed he was tied for 77th. By the time he actually got on the plane, he had moved to 72nd -- which was dangerously close to the 70 and ties who would be playing on the weekend.

"I'm like, 'I can't do this,'" Ogilvy recalled. "I've got to get off. So about 20 minutes before we leave, I get off the plane and I say, 'I've kind of got an emergency. Can I get my bags off the plane?'"

The airline didn't look kindly on Ogilvy's plight, though. The plane was oversold and there were plenty of tight connections. So the person at the gate suggested he put in a baggage claim -- but that meant his clubs would have to go all the way to Phoenix and wouldn't make it back to Tampa until Saturday afternoon.

"I said, well, that's hopeless," Ogilvy said.

To add insult to injury when the 2006 U.S. Open champion got back on the plane, his first class seat had been given away. He got the last seat in coach and flew on to Houston where he turned on his phone to find numerous texts with the news that he had, indeed, made the unusually big cut of 86 players.

"So the only way, stupidly enough, to have me with my bags and ready to play today is to go all the way to Phoenix and back," Ogilvy said. "How bizarre is that? They couldn't even stop them in Houston.

"So I jump back on the plane. I guess I could have scrounged some golf clubs from a cut-misser and found some clothes. But if it's possible to get here with your stuff you've got to do it."

Ogilvy got to Phoenix about 1 a.m. ET. His wife, Juli, met him at the airport with an extra pair of golf shoes since he had shipped his shoes and balls separately. He borrowed some Titleists on Saturday morning.

Within an hour, Ogilvy was on a chartered plane back to Tampa which landed at 5 a.m. He tried to nap -- "I was in that dozing state where you can remember the whole flight," the Aussie said -- but he didn't get any quality shut-eye.

By 5:45 a.m. Ogilvy was back in his room at Innisbrook. He and a buddy were in adjoining units at the resort and rather than check out, he had given his friend the run of the place when he headed home.

"I just got another key and snuck in," Ogilvy said with a grin.

Once he teed off on the Copperhead Course about three hours later, Ogilvy was grinding again. He three-putted the second hole but quickly recovered and made seven birdies -- including five on the back nine. He not only achieved his goal of making the secondary cut on Saturday, Ogilvy moved into the top 20.

"I hit a couple of goofy shots the first couple of days but I was happy with the way I played. I just didn't hole any putts," he said. "So I was kind of glad I got another crack at it. I thought I was playing quite well. Leading up to Augusta, the more you play the better and I knew the weather was going to be nice."

Ogilvy knows he isn't the first player who left the course thinking he'd missed the cut only to have to turn around when he found out otherwise.

"It's happened to a hundred guys," Ogilvy said with a shrug. "But when you're in Tampa at the airport and your bags are there somewhere and you have to go for 5-6 hours on a plane to be able to be reunited with your bags is just ridiculous."

But it made for a pretty good story.