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NORTHERN TRUST OPENFebruary 19, 2015Geoff OgilvyPACIFIC PALISADES, CALIFORNIA Q. Riviera is a lot of fun when the greens are firm like this? GEOFF OGILVY: It's tough but fun. Clearly one of the best courses we play, and set up pretty well, really. It's firm and it's a bit narrower than I'd prefer to see, but firm greens and fast and they are rolling really well for the greens here. You miss it above the hole, you've got no chance‑‑ which that's when golf is at its best like that. Q. Talk about the 10th. Is it getting a little edgy with the shaved areas? GEOFF OGILVY: It's a lot tougher than it used to be. It's hard to criticize such a good hole. It's a lot harder than it used to be, especially when the pins are at the back like today. I don't think you can go to the middle section of the green anymore because there's a lot of pitch on the green and how fast it is. It's one of the top four or five holes we play all year on Tour. It's a joy to play even when you're putting a five on the card. Q. Balls that go off the green‑‑ you didn't hit a bad shot? GEOFF OGILVY: I have to think when they try to get more out of a great hole, that's all they are really trying to do. It's everyone's favorite hole, really and they are just trying to get more out of it. It's pretty good. The greens are a lot firmer than we are used to playing. They were just a bit softer a few years ago. Now it takes that big first bounce and goes in that bunker really easy. It's a really, really good hole and definitely getting harder. Q. It's always fun to keep you guys on your toes, isn't it? GEOFF OGILVY: The best part about that hole is it makes us all make decisions we don't like making. We all want to hit driver, it's clearly the wrong play and we all still do it. Holes are great when it makes us make wrong decisions. That's when golf gets fun to watch I think, and that's clearly one of the best holes in the world at doing that, making us kind of‑‑ peer pressuring us into make that wrong decision. That's how that hole does it to us. Q. The next holes, you came close to making bad decisions‑‑ GEOFF OGILVY: There's not many holes in the world as good at that as 10. They are just quality holes out here. Just kind of the‑‑ I don't know what you call, the bones are really amazing architecture are under there, and everything is in the right place. It's an incredible bunch of holes, really, on not an amazing piece of land, really, comparing it to a lot of other great courses. Cool and interesting stuff‑‑ uphill, downhill, you have to move the ball both ways. Awkward angles and stuff. It's just a great golf course, really. And it's immaculate this year. Nobody likes the drought in California but it's good for a course like this to dry it out a little bit. When golf courses are stressed, they actually play their best and it's getting really close to that level. Q. What was your strategy today at 10? GEOFF OGILVY: I laid up ‑‑ now, these days. I don't go for it anymore. I always knew it was the wrong‑‑ it just took me a while to like not goad myself into it. I actually think the left rough is the best place to hit it off the tee, generally. That slope off the bunker on the right is so severe on the green, the further you can hit your tee shot, like pin‑high, if you're talking from the tee, up the green, the more up the green you can hit it, the better. Even if you're in that rough and you have to kind of go over the bunker and go past the trees a little bit. That's clearly better than 50 yards short of green in the middle of the fairway. That's a really horrible spot. Again golf gets interesting when the rough is maybe a better position than the fairway, which is, I think, cool. Q. Does that strategy ever work, going for it? GEOFF OGILVY: Sometimes it does. It's a legitimate play if you need to make two. Theoretically, you don't make five when you lay it up. You only make five or six when you go for it but you don't make two when you lay it up, either. So you give up the eagle or maybe the easy birdie, but you also get rid of the six when you lay it up. So that's your decision. I make a boring three or four, or I'll make two through seven, or anything, if I hit driver‑‑ if you make two birdies on that hole all week, you'll beat the field. Q. If you're in a playoff on Sunday on 10, would that change your strategy? GEOFF OGILVY: If the pin is anywhere near the back, I can't see going for it. If the pin is on the front half the green, going for it is not that bad‑‑ shaving‑‑ it's all right. But the back pins are just horrible. You hit driver long, lobbing it over that bunker, you have no chance. Depends on the pin. Q. Do you remember the time when you said you weren't going to go for it anymore? GEOFF OGILVY: I said that in about 2002. About eight years later, I actually started doing it. I've been going for it most years every now and then. I'm 50/50 probably over my career, always knowing when I hit driver, it's not that sensible. That's why it's fun. Sometimes you go for shots you shouldn't go for, but that's kind of why you play golf, because it's a bit of fun. Then when you go for it for a while and you make threes and fours, you think, going for is the right play. Then you make a six or a seven and takes you a couple of years to get the balls to go for it again. Q. Do you feel like 10 has shifted to where it's more difficult where you don't get the sense that those are sort of automatic birdies? GEOFF OGILVY: 10 used to be not an automatic birdie but the most birdieable hole on the course after the first maybe. Not anymore. Last year, you'd have to check, I don't know, but I think our group made a five, a six and an eight to start the round, first hole of the tournament. I made the six. 10 is a hole to be respected. Today is the real tough pin, tucked in against the bunker there. 10 is not a gimmie anymore. You still want to make birdies because you're only flicking a sand iron in there. But once you make some big numbers there, you realize‑‑ you appreciate your fours there a bit more. Q. How much fun has it been over the last year to get back more in the picture? GEOFF OGILVY: It's nice. Still got a long way to go I guess. I feel like I'm playing pretty well. It all goes up‑and‑down, golf, doesn't it. It's hard to see that clearly when you're going down. But if you look across everybody's career in anything, really, they go up‑and‑down, especially golf it's magnified a little bit, because it's such a difficult game. It's nice to start.  So it was really nice in December to sit down with the schedule and put all the majors on there and kind of pick and choose the places I really like to play. It's kind of difficult to do that when you're chasing getting into majors and stuff. So that's the best part about it. Q. Your arms look like you've filled out‑‑ GEOFF OGILVY: Just wearing smaller shirts. I don't think I'm doing too much different. I feel skinny actually. Q. Is there any part of you that wants to defend your title this year? GEOFF OGILVY: Well, yeah, are you kidding me? I love that tournament. Yes, I would love to. But, I mean, a World Golf Championships is a World Golf Championships, isn't it. If I'm in Akron, I'm in Akron. But Reno is one of my favorite tournaments of the year. Only gone there two or three times but love the place. Q. If you had your choice‑‑ GEOFF OGILVY: $8million versus $3million, not that we are only out here for money, but it's just‑‑ a WGC is pretty good on the resumé. It's hard to resist that. As far as if it was all about enjoyment, if this was amateur golf, I would play Reno, because I don't enjoy Akron very much. Q. Outside of the Stableford and the one match play we have, what's one other thing they could do, without getting too stupid, in terms of a different format? GEOFF OGILVY: Interesting format? I don't know. Q. Is there anything else out there? GEOFF OGILVY: The match‑play format this year is pretty good. You could do that more than once, a Round Robin kind of thing, everyone stays around for three days. It wouldn't go down very well with the boys. I think a mixed tournament would be interesting. I think it would be fun to play a mixed tournament kind of thing. Q. Who would you play with‑‑ GEOFF OGILVY: Lydia Ko. That would be interesting, don't you think? It would be stroke‑play. Didn't they used to do a Champions Tour, regular TOUR, LPGA thing? They still do‑‑ like a real tournament. That would be interesting. A best‑ball would be good. I know the Shark Shootout is there but like a TOUR event best‑ball. Q. Aren't you on the PAC? GEOFF OGILVY: I am. Q. Does that ever come up or are you too busy talking about pace of play? GEOFF OGILVY: Pace of play is a regular subject. Popular topic. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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