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THE HONDA CLASSIC

March 9, 2006

Geoff Ogilvy

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FLORIDA

DAVE SENKO: Geoff, if you could just get us started, talk about 5 under, 67.

GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, I played really well I guess. I mean, the first three holes, I kind of made three nice pars and then you turnaround on 13, and 13, 14, 15, 16 here, today, this afternoon, were probably four of the toughest holes you'll ever play in a row that are not in the U.S. Open. I mean, they were seriously hard. I made a double on 13, which is not really the thing to do when you've got three hard holes after that. Made a really good putt for par on the next hole. Birdied the par 3. Then I was I eagled the par 5 17th which is a big bonus, but that's playing a pretty easy hole today really. If you're ever going to eagle a par 5, that's the one today, because everyone is going to be hitting a short iron in there I think.

From then on I played really well. I got a big bonus on 6 with the double eagle and I made a couple of nice up and downs on the front nine. All in all, an eagle and a double eagle in one round is a real bonus. Not the only way you can have 5 under on a day like this, but it certainly helps to throw in some low numbers.

Q. Kind of a royal flush, you had one of everything from double eagle to double bogey.

GEOFF OGILVY: Is that right? Yeah, I've never had a double eagle before, so that's a big bonus. Yeah, you don't want to be on a day like this, you don't really want to be over par before you're under par, especially when you head back into the wind.

DAVE SENKO: What was the shot sequence on 13.

GEOFF OGILVY: I hit it in the hazard, we went up to look to see if we could find it. Took about ten seconds to realize not finding the ball in there. I had to go back to the tee. Driver, third shot, I guess, 4 iron, actually hit it over the green and made a really good up and down for 6. I made a chip down to about two feet but it was a good chip shot. I could have made a 7 pretty easy.

15, I hit a really nice 5 iron about 15 feet short straight on line. That's a tough hole again, straight into the wind, so I hit a good shot.

17, I hit driver, good drive down quite a long way and hit 9 iron to probably 15, 18 feet right of the hole maybe and made it.

Q. What did you have on your shot coming out, what was the yardage?

GEOFF OGILVY: On 17? I think it was 170 I think. It was like 147 front.

5, I made a bit of a sneaky birdie. I drove it in the right rough and had to chip it out and hit 5 iron to eight feet and made birdie, which you're supposed to birdie that hole but not like that.

Then 6, I pulled it off the tee, I thought. But it went so far, it was in the middle of the fairway, I had 180 to the pin and 8 iron in the hole. Good shot. Apparently everyone there, I couldn't see it but everyone on the green said it was going pretty slow. It was going to be stiff, anyway, so I would have made 3 if it didn't go in. It was a perfect shot, it wasn't like it was it was always lucky to go in the hole, but I hit a good shot. Probably the best shot I hit all day.

Q. What were the first words out of your mouth after it went in?

GEOFF OGILVY: I'm like, "you're kidding me," or something. You don't believe it; when everyone jumps up and down, it kind of doesn't register for a little bit.

Q. Good guess to the number of people behind the green?

GEOFF OGILVY: 25, maybe, maybe. I guess there was a camera there, though. I guess they got it, which is nice.

Q. They have been replaying it ever since you hit it.

GEOFF OGILVY: So there's a bonus. Most people who do something like that never get footage on that, so that's pretty cool.

Q. How far out were you on that second shot and what did you hit?

GEOFF OGILVY: 180 and I hit 8 iron. It's pretty windy out there this afternoon. It's a two club wind. I'd normally have been hitting I mean, I almost thought about 9 iron. I'm glad I didn't hit it, but I hit 8 iron usually about 160 and it's going 180.

Q. Are you sentimental about souvenirs; did you save the ball from the double eagle or do anything with that?

GEOFF OGILVY: No. Because my hole in one, my only ever hole in one I lost the ball. I hit it in the water or something like two hours later, so I kind of spoiled that. That was at Loch Lomond, about four or five years ago, six years ago maybe.

Q. So the double eagle ball is back in your bag now?

GEOFF OGILVY: The scorer might have given it away, I don't know. I used it on the next hole, scuffed it up with my lob wedge on the next hole and took it out of play. He might have given it away.

Q. It's probably on eBay right now, isn't it?

GEOFF OGILVY: I don't know, I signed the ball for a kid, so he might have had it because it was the same number. Could have been that ball, I don't know.

Q. Talk about the attitude that you had to have being 2 over and then where you finished?

GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, it didn't when I walked off the 13th green, I thought if I can get it anywhere under, if I can get it to 1 under today, that's an unbelievable result from being 2 over, especially with 14, 15, 16. If I could have got to the 17th tee, par, par, par, on 14, 15, 16, I would have been happy, and I snuck a birdie in.

The front nine is playable. In any wind really out here, you've got a chance. You've got the two par 5s, doesn't matter which way it blows, you can get it somewhere near the green in two. You've got every chance. The first hole you can hit a wedge in, the second hole you can get a wedge in.

So I knew if I could get through the front nine, I had a chance, but 2 over after the 13th hole, I thought if I could get to 1 under, it would be a really, really good score. I would have been happy to come in at 1 over, anything even 1 over today would have felt like it would have been a reasonable score.

Q. Did you feel like your momentum you stopped yourself on 8 and did that make the birdie on 9 a nice way to close?

GEOFF OGILVY: It was a bit unfortunate. I hit a decent shot I thought and didn't even know it was off the green until I got up there. 8 is a tricky green. It was exactly on line and I guess it just trickled off the green and I hit a bad chip. That bermuda, I made a couple of good up and downs before that, so to flub a chip shot a little bit, and to hole an 8 iron, I wasn't all that fazed about it to be honest with you.

Q. What did you hit on 9?

GEOFF OGILVY: I hit a 2 iron and wedge it's playing ridiculously short that hole.

Q. Knowing the nature of this course and feeling those winds on the first tee, what's in your head about what's ahead the next four hours?

GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, we knew it was going to be a long day on the 10th hole. I hit 3 iron and it ran out to a bunker that's like 300 yards. I thought this is going to be a long day. I hit 3 iron 220 yards and it's going nearly 300. Yeah, it's going to be a long day. Both Craigs, Parry and Perks, had putts short of the hole downwind and they were almost stopped at the hole and they still went six feet past. I thought, "This is going to be incredible, no one is going to break par this afternoon."

But then you get to 12 and you've got a downwind par 5 and you feel a bit better about it. Then you get once you get through that tough stretch, 13 through 16, you feel better about it. But starting out, we knew it was going to take 5 1/2 hours because everyone was going to be backing up putts. It felt like balls could be blowing off the greens. That was short where the pins were, I guess that wasn't even close to happening. It felt like it could have been one of those days where you could have had balls blowing around on the greens, so it was a pretty scary start. You don't know what that make of it really.

Q. The hole in one, was that on a European Tour event?

GEOFF OGILVY: Yes.

Q. Have you ever had a 2 on a par 4 on the PGA TOUR?

GEOFF OGILVY: I'd like to think I probably have; a 2 on a par 4, I would have had that. I can't specifically remember one.

Q. When you hit a shot like that, do you consider it more lucky than still?

GEOFF OGILVY: It's lucky if it goes in. Anyone who tells you yeah, you're aiming it at the hole, but it's very lucky that it goes in. I mean, it's not like you thought it was going to go close. It was not lucky that it was going to go close to the hole because I hit a good shot. You can hit a perfect putt from eight feet and it can miss. When you're coming 180 yards with an 8 iron anything can happen.

Q. If it stopped three feet from the hole and you made eagle, it would have been a good shot and here you're saying it's a lucky shot because it went?

GEOFF OGILVY: It was a good shot. It was the best shot I hit all day, no question about it. But it's lucky that it goes in. It has to be lucky it goes in. Otherwise, we'd hole shots all the time, you know. As a pro it's not like you chip it in off the edge of the green because that's something you're trying to do, but you're not trying to hole it from 180 yards. That's just a bonus.

Q. You said earlier in an interview that when you're playing good, you don't tend to practice.

GEOFF OGILVY: Well, yeah, Roger (Maltbie) just asked me about what did I do last week, how did I keep it going. If I'm playing well if I'm playing well and I practice, I'm more likely to start playing bad, you know what I mean. Because if you're playing well, I don't know why. Some of these guys go out and hit balls when they have gone out, there will be guys out there when are 5 under today hitting balls. Doesn't make any sense to me at all, if they played well, I guess.

If I'm hitting it well, I'll just start the only place it can go is the other way, so why hit too many? If I play, I'll play a couple of rounds of golf at home. It's not like the clubs were in the closet. I might make the odd practice swing or something to keep the body there, and I'm always active or something, and four or five days off isn't a whole lot.

Q. So since the Match Play you played

GEOFF OGILVY: Twice. I played Tuesday, I was in the Pro Am, but before I got to here, I played Friday and Saturday, that was it.

Q. Obviously you're playing well, but it looks like the good fortune that has gone with it has accompanied you from West Coast to East Coast in terms of making a double eagle today and tying for the lead.

GEOFF OGILVY: When things are going your way, I guess things are going your way. Yeah, that's just a bonus holing a shot like that. I don't know what to say. Coming into some hard holes, it's much easier to keep your head on and be patient about it than if I'd just missed seven cuts in a row. If you've won a tournament two weeks before, it's quite easy to go, oh, I'll probably just make a few birdies, it will be all right. But if you've just missed five or six cuts in a row, it would be, oh, 2 over at 13, here we go again, it would be harder to do that.

Q. You win in Tucson and that tournament is off the schedule; and La Costa, that's moving to Tucson; and you have double eagle here, this is moving to a different course next year, what do you think that means?

GEOFF OGILVY: Maybe I should just play all golf tournaments where they are going to change the course next year. I don't know, it's a shame we're moving, but I guess we have to move, because I've played well at this course, because I've played well here. So it could be a shame to leave, but it's been good. Hopefully I can win. That would be a good little run if I can win here.

Q. You'd better go to Hartford and Booz Allen, too.

GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, there's a few I think.

Q. If you won at Augusta, they are not going to move it.

GEOFF OGILVY: No. (Laughter).

DAVE SENKO: Thank you.

End of FastScripts.

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