Geoff Ogilvy

Geoff Charles Ogilvy (born 11 June 1977) is an Australian professional golfer. He won the 2006 U.S. Open and has also won three World Golf Championships.

Professional career

Ogilvy was born in Adelaide, South Australia to an English-born father Mike and Australian born mother Judy. He turned professional in May 1998 and he won a European Tour card at that year's Qualifying school. He played on the European Tour in 1999 and 2000, finishing 65th in his first season and improving to 48th in his second. He joined the U.S. based PGA Tour in 2001, and finished in the top 100 in each of his first five seasons. His first professional tournament win came in 2005 at the PGA Tour's Chrysler Classic of Tucson. In February 2006 he beat Davis Love III in the final of the 2006 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship.

Ogilvy won his first major championship at the 2006 U.S. Open, becoming the first Australian to win a men's golf major since Steve Elkington at the 1995 PGA Championship. Ogilvy finished his round with a champion's flourish, making improbable pars on each of the last two holes. He holed a 30-foot chip shot at the 17th, and then got up-and-down for par at the 18th, dropping a downhill six-footer for his final stroke as all his competitors collapsed around him. Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie needed pars on the final hole to win, or bogeys to tie with Ogilvy, but they ruined their chances by producing double-bogey sixes to give Ogilvy a dramatic win. Jim Furyk needed par to force a playoff but bogeyed the final hole.