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TARGET WORLD CHALLENGE

December 16, 2006

Geoff Ogilvy

THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA: Third Round

DAVE SENKO: Geoff, 67 today going into tomorrow. Right now you're at 11-under. Maybe just talk about your day and looking ahead to Sunday.
GEOFF OGILVY: Yeah, I obviously played very well. It didn't look like it was going to be a very fun day when we walked out of the locker room this morning, cold and raining and forecast was for it to get worse, and when it started raining when we were teeing off, it didn't bode very well for the rest of the day.
I started very well again, birdied the first two holes, always nice when it's tough. I played good all day, really. I hit a couple of bad shots on the way in, but really, you need a good score Sunday. Saturday you just want to keep yourself in the golf tournament as opposed to going the other way, especially on a day like today. Being in the last group tomorrow is always where you want to be.

Q. Take us through 18 again, the birdie.
GEOFF OGILVY: 18 I've hit it perfect there every day, and got closer and closer to the hole with my shot each day. The first day I hit an awful shot and made double. Yesterday I hit it to 40 feet from the fairway and today I hit it to about a foot. Hopefully I can keep that progression going. I hit 3-wood, 9-iron today. It was the easiest shot, and it's a birdie pin if you're on the fairway. It's probably a terrible pin if you're coming from out of the rough. Both me and Chris made birdie from the fairway. It all just kind of goes that way. Nice way to finish, so it was good.

Q. Growing up in Australia did you play much in the rain?
GEOFF OGILVY: It rains in Australia. I grew up in Melbourne, which is probably similar to LA type of weather, kind of windy, rainy, not quite like San Francisco, but it's probably a bit like LA. Just like today, it can rain at the start of the day and then get sunny and then it can rain. That's kind of how I grew up. We played in the rain.
Golf courses here are generally softer. Where I grew up it's on the sand belt, so it doesn't matter how much it rains. It just drains underneath, just natural drainage. It's always firm.
But we played in the rain. No matter how much you play in the rain -- you deal with it, but it's no fun. It's worse for the caddies, but it's no fun, especially when it's kind of cold. In the middle of the summer and it's 90 degrees and raining, it doesn't seem that bad. But when it's 50 degrees, it's no fun.

Q. Saying that it was tough early on, you just have to kind of hold on, is that how you felt? It was basically hold on until the weather got a little better and you were able to make some shots?
GEOFF OGILVY: Well, birdieing the first two holes, that's really nice on a day like this because you bogey the first two holes you're probably not going to find your way back. The first two holes, I felt like they were playing pretty tough. It was just awkward. It's just not nice when it's a little bit windy. It was that annoying type of rain that doesn't get the golf course under water but it gets you really wet. It's right in that bad spot.
I mean, the greens are soft and they hold, so if you're coming from the fairway and you've got a dry grip, you've still got every chance, it's just uncomfortable, no fun. But like Chris said, you want to get off to a decent start. Those first three holes you want to have a birdie or two because 4, 5 and 6 you turn back into the wind. Yeah, I was just lucky to birdie the first two holes, I think.

Q. Your off season is (inaudible).
GEOFF OGILVY: Actually I'm kind of lucky that I had nine weeks off between Akron and the TOUR Championship, so that was my off season was kind of between August and October, really. That was my off season. I mean, I had a baby; it kind of got forced on me. I'm probably more fresh than a lot of blokes. Two weeks isn't a long time, but two weeks in Hawaii at the start of the year, that's not like it's a hardship. It's a pretty decent place to start the year, so I don't think I'll be doing too much driving on the range in Hawaii. It's more like play your game, lay by the pool. So it's a nice way to start the year. Then after Hawaii I probably won't play until Phoenix, so it'll be nice.

Q. It is certainly not a TOUR tournament or a major or anything, but are you aware of Tiger out there, or does it matter?
GEOFF OGILVY: I guess. Not really. I mean, it's his golf tournament, so you know he's here. Kind of. I mean, I look at leaderboards. I mean, you look and you're not going to look at a leaderboard and not check what he's doing. Every time you have a player, especially how he's played the last five, six months, if you beat him you'll probably win. Whatever he's doing, if you're going better than him, you're doing all right.
But no, I mean, obviously when he hits a good shot the cheer is a bit louder than it is for anyone else. He hits a bad shot, the groan is a little bit louder than it is for anyone else. Not really. I mean, there's 16 guys here, but if you're beating him, you're going to do pretty well.

Q. Earlier this week you talked about how much more comfortable you are in a final round. Can you talk a little bit about that compared to how you were before?
GEOFF OGILVY: I mean, it's just a comfort thing. The first time playing in the last group at any golf tournament, the way you feel on the first tee is indescribable how out of place you feel. The next time you feel a little bit better but still uncomfortable. I'm sure it's like public speaking. The first time you do it you just can't believe anyone can do that. The second, third and fourth time it starts seeming easier. I guess that's the only way -- I don't think there's any magic.
The first time Tiger got in the last group on Sunday, he would have felt very uncomfortable. I'm sure he did. He probably does it more than any of us, so that's why he looks the most comfortable on Sundays. I'm sure it is. It's just a comfort level. For me it was. It was just a gradual progression from a little tournament and then obviously you get in a big tournament and then you're uncomfortable and then you start getting comfortable in majors and everything.
Don't get me wrong, I wasn't comfortable at all on Sunday at Winged Foot, but you learn to deal with the nerves and the way you feel. You just learn to understand the feelings better, I think. The first time you feel them you don't quite understand what you're feeling and you don't know how to hit it when you feel like that, but I guess you just learn how to play like that.

Q. You weren't in the last group on Sunday at Winged Foot, were you?
GEOFF OGILVY: No, I wasn't, but in the mix. I'm sure it was easier for me than it was Kenneth Ferrie on Sunday. That's a group that probably you don't -- it's not the easiest group to play in in New York in the last round. That's a tough group to play in.
I wasn't disappointed when I found out I was in the group in front of them. But in the mix, yeah. Any time you're in the mix on Sunday, you have some nerves about it. But as I said, the more you do it, the better you feel about it and you start focusing on winning.

Q. You're not going to feel as you do in the U.S. Open or Masters, but I just wonder in a little non-official event like this whether you feel it.
GEOFF OGILVY: I'm sure I'll -- I mean, I've never played in the last group at a little non-official event like this (laughter), so I don't know. I'm sure I'll be more comfortable tomorrow than I would be if I was in the last group on Sunday at Kapalua for some weird reason probably. It's just because there's an asterisk next to the win maybe. I don't know, you just want to win a golf tournament. I'll tell you tomorrow afternoon how I felt on the first tee.

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