Ogilvie: Re-equipped for success

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Pre-round adjustments are essential for professional golfers, but Joe Ogilvie took it to a new level Friday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard. His reward was a bogey-free 6-under-par 66 on the Championship Course at Bay Hill Club & Lodge, a 10-shot improvement.

Just 25 minutes before his second-round tee time of 12:43 p.m. EDT, Ogilvie retreated to the Bay Hill clubhouse, where an assistant pro in the club repair room bent his R9 irons one degree upright. "It's not recommended doing something like that, but I needed to turn it around, and it worked," said Ogilvie, who carded the low round of the day and moved up 81 spots into a tie for 23rd at two-under 142.

Oh, but that wasn't all. He also put a new putter in his bag, switching from a TaylorMade Rossa to an Odyssey 2-Ball. And if all that weren't enough, on the sixth hole, he abandoned his cross-handed putting grip for a conventional one. He converted a 25-foot par putt at the sixth and then registered six of his seven birdies over the last 11 holes.

The reason Ogilvie had his irons worked on was because he was losing shots way right after changing his setup. He is standing taller to the ball, bringing it in closer. "I've gone to 3 degrees flat four weeks ago to 1 degree upright in my irons, so it's all pretty radical stuff," Ogilvie said. "Hey, it worked. I'm starting to figure it out. Or at least I hope I have."

-- Dave Shedloski