This week we have the “Transitions Championship” at Innisbrook Copperhead Course. Nice name, Timmy. Ranks right up there with “Waste Management.” Brandijg Department? Clean up in the Commish’s office, please!
In three weeks at Augusta we may see the Transgressions Championship, but that’s a story for another day.
No, today we get a laugh at the expense of Good Ol,’ affable, don’t-sweat-it Geoff Ogilvy.
It seems Geoff was struggling over the Copperhead course for the first two days. 2-over at a rank and file tour stop is usually a truck slammer, screech of tires, see ya later score. Geoff thought so. He checked out of his hotel suite that he was sharing with another buddy, put the clubs on a flight to Phoenix and sat down in the terminal for a drink and some sports scores.
Well a whopping 86 guys made the cut, including Ogilvy, who sprung into action…only to be thwarted by the TSA and the airline industry, who – essentially – left Ogilvy with no choice but to board the plane, fly all the way to Phoenix, collect his bags, turn around and fly all the way back to Tampa in time to make his tee time by three hours. He had a cool 60ish minutes of sleep.
Here’s what happened, according to Helen Ross of PGATour.com:
“Ogilvy was drinking a beer and checking the scores on the computer when all of a sudden he noticed he was tied for 77th. By the time he actually got on the plane, he had moved to 72nd — which was dangerously close to the 70 and ties who would be playing on the weekend.
“I’m like, ‘I can’t do this,'” Ogilvy recalled. “I’ve got to get off. So about 20 minutes before we leave, I get off the plane and I say, ‘I’ve kind of got an emergency. Can I get my bags off the plane?'”
The airline didn’t look kindly on Ogilvy’s plight, though. The plane was oversold and there were plenty of tight connections. So the person at the gate suggested he put in a baggage claim — but that meant his clubs would have to go all the way to Phoenix and wouldn’t make it back to Tampa until Saturday afternoon.
“I said, well, that’s hopeless,” Ogilvy said.
To add insult to injury when the 2006 U.S. Open champion got back on the plane, his first class seat had been given away. He got the last seat in coach and flew on to Houston where he turned on his phone to find numerous texts with the news that he had, indeed, made the unusually big cut of 86 players.
“So the only way, stupidly enough, to have me with my bags and ready to play today is to go all the way to Phoenix and back,” Ogilvy said. “How bizarre is that? They couldn’t even stop them in Houston.
“So I jump back on the plane. I guess I could have scrounged some golf clubs from a cut-misser and found some clothes. But if it’s possible to get here with your stuff you’ve got to do it.”
Ogilvy got to Phoenix about 1 a.m. ET. His wife, Juli, met him at the airport with an extra pair of golf shoes. Turns out, he had FedEx-ed his shoes and balls home so his luggage wouldn’t exceed the weight limit. He borrowed a sleeve of Titleists from Nathan Green on Saturday morning.
Within an hour, Ogilvy was on a chartered plane back to Tampa which landed at 5 a.m. He tried to nap — “I was in that dozing state where you can remember the whole flight,” the Aussie said — but he didn’t get any quality shut-eye.
By 5:45 a.m. Ogilvy was back in his room at Innisbrook.”
It’s enough to say any ordinary golf traveler shout, “What?! That’s reedonkyulous!” but not Ogilvy. What does Ogilvy do? Shoots a cool 65.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why he’ll win another major: he’s unflappable.
