Ogilvy discusses Presidents Cup

US PGA Tour | 2011 The Presidents Cup | General | 20 Oct 2011

Geoff Ogilvy hosted a press conference this morning on issues to do with the Presidents Cup. It was lengthy but here are just some of Ogilvy’s typically measured responses to some of the questions asked.

Tell us about the experience of playing an event where players from so many countries come together under the same flag to form a team?

“It’s a fantastic week. It took me by surprise my first one in 2007, about how into the team thing everybody gets, because as you say, we’re all kind of bringing a different flag, or for our team at least, a lot of us are bringing a different flag.

It’s hard to imagine that South Africans and Fijians and Australians and Japanese and Koreans and Canadians are going to come together and be part of a team, but we really do. From the very first night when everyone gets to the hotel and we all have a few beers and talk about the week and get excited, it really is a team straightaway.

It’s a fantastic experience. I definitely have a very cool relationship with everybody I’ve played a Presidents Cup with. For the rest of, like, your time playing golf and for the rest of time, you are going to have special relationships with all the people you play on the team with because that’s how good a week it is.

So it really is a fun one for us. It’s as much about winning the tournament and representing our country as it is just getting to enjoy that week. My first one I got to spend a week with Gary Player, which it doesn’t get much better than that, and you’re getting in and out of the bus with Gary Player every morning and he’s telling you stories back from his day. That’s a pretty good experience.

And last time it was Greg, and this time it’s Greg again. So getting to spend time with guys like that, that’s worth the price of admission there."

Ogilvy was asked if he had been asked by Norman of his opinions on possible pairings.

“Yeah, he’s been pretty good with the communication the whole time, really. We see him and Frank, because Frank Nobilo is the assistant, and he’s out with the Golf Channel every week. So we see Frank quite a lot on Tour.

Greg has been on the phone, at least me and I know to Adam and a few other guys, quite regularly on how everyone is going and how everyone is feeling. He had us all we had a meeting at the U.S. PGA in Atlanta in August, and he would discuss little things like that with us.

So it’s been a constant line of communication. He’s definitely a very hands on captain. He’s very involved with us, and I think he probably knows more about the way we’re all playing and how we’ll all fit into the team better than you could imagine actually. So he’s pretty as he has been with everything his whole life, he’s very competitive and he really wants to win, and he’s really, really into this."

Ogilvy was then asked his thoughts on the selection of Tiger Woods and the comments Norman had made on it.

“The Tiger thing, you can’t ever say that picking Tiger Woods is a bad selection. But the way he picked him, I don’t agree with the way he picked him, announcing it months early. Basically telling the guys who are on the fringe of the U.S. Team there’s really only going to be one pick.

I’m not exactly sure in saying it that early. And it is disappointing. Keegan Bradley is the obvious one, he’s won two tournaments this year, one of them being a major, and he hasn’t made the team, which is astonishing really that you can do that in a year and not make the team. So I’m very disappointed for him. But that’s beside the point.

I guess it’s a very difficult situation when you announce you’re going to pick one guy that early for everybody else. It’s hard to say that picking Tiger Woods on your team is a bad thing because he’s been the best golfer in the world for the last 15 years. Maybe not for the last 18 months but definitely for the last 15 years. But doing it the way he did it might not have been the best."

A question was asked as to just how competitive the event is and whether there is the possibility of tension between the teams.

“Look, it’s an ultra competitive tournament, but I think if you compare it to the Ryder Cup, it’s played in very friendly terms. I think the Ryder Cup well, at least from the outside looking in, appears to carry an astonishing amount of tension, which is what makes the event so appealing to watch because of the obvious levels of animosity, at least between the fans on each side, not the players. But it’s an incredible that’s why sport is what it is, because of the tension that’s created in the Ryder Cup.

I think we haven’t had the Ryder Cup has had multiple events historically that have created stuff, that have created that over long periods of time. The Presidents Cup, we haven’t really had any kind of tension building moments if you like, apart from the obvious just the competitors out on the golf course.

To create any of that kind of animosity type thing, at this point it’s still an ultra competitive but friendly event. If it goes on for another 50 years, I’m sure it will develop intention because all it takes is a couple odd things to happen during the event to create a little bit of extra competitiveness, and that can add to the event. But at this moment I think it’s a fantastic event because of how competitive it is but how friendly it is. I think it’s a great event."

The question was then asked as to how much of an advantage will it be for the Internationals playing at Royal Melbourne.

“It’s a pretty big advantage. Royal Melbourne, you wouldn’t consider it one of the most difficult golf courses in the world anymore, but it’s definitely a golf course that rewards local knowledge. There’s a lot of places on the golf course that are bad to hit it, and there’s a lot of places on the course that are good to hit it, and they’re not always obvious. It’s only learned through playing the course.

So I think the international team will have a slight advantage there because we’ve got more players on the team that have played Royal Melbourne before and have played Sand Belt courses before.

But the U.S. guys, there’s a few guys on the U.S. Team for sure that have played Sand Belt golf before and have played Royal Melbourne before, so they won’t be completely flying blind. Fred Couples nearly won a golf tournament in 1988 at Royal Melbourne and he’s their captain. So they’re not going to be completely flying blind.

But I would say as far as local knowledge or hometown advantage thing, we’ve probably got the slight edge."

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