Ogilvy makes cross-country detour pay off: Local Knowledge: Golf Digest

Ogilvy makes cross-country detour pay off

Saturday, March 20, 2010

After shooting 73 and 71 in the first two rounds of the Transitions Championship, Australian Geoff Ogilvy figured his 2-over-par 144 would miss the cut by a shot, so he headed to the airport to catch a flight back to his home in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Ogilvy was in the process of boarding his flight when he checked the tournament scores on his computer and found out the cut line had changed to 2-over and he would be likely be playing on the weekend. At this point, Ogilvy still had time to get off the flight, but there was one problem--his clubs couldn't be pulled off.

So rather than get off the flight and play Saturday's round with another set, he decided to fly all the way back to Phoenix, get his clubs from baggage claim and then charter another flight back to the tournament. He made it back to the tournament in time to get an hour or so of sleep before having to play his third round.

Despite the lack of sleep, being bumped out of first class on the flight to Phoenix and the enormous expense of chartering a flight back, the result was that Ogilvy shot 6-under-par 65 on Saturday and moved up into the top 20 on the leader board.

"Considering I shot 65, I'd say it was a smart move," he said. "What else can I say? It's one for the books."

-- Ron Kaspriske