Asian Tour Yearbook: 2023

NO ONE’S EVEN CLOSE TO OGLETREE THE AMERICAN WINS THIRD IS TITLE AT CLOSE HOUSE BY SEVEN SHOTS B orn and brought up in a small town with a population of just over 2,000, Andy Ogletree reckons he probably is the most famous person in Little Rock, Mississippi. Well…the 25-year old American is making sure his fame travels far and wide. Beating a world-class field in International Series England at Close House by seven shots – his third International Series win in a space of nine months (2022 Egypt and 2023 Qatar) – was another huge step towards superstardom for the 2019 US Amateur champion. There were 32 players in the field with LIV Golf experience, 20 of them full members of the league’s 2023 season. However, it wasn’t just a battle against the competition, but also the treacherous conditions – and Ogletree was the best by a country mile. With buckets of rain pouring in the lead-up to the tournament, Close House was playing wet and super long. Add to it the cold wind that started pumping across the picturesque valley, the golf course was asking some rather demanding questions from the players. In Thursday’s opening round, Ogletree did not seem to have the answers and teetered close to the cut-line at one-over par 72. He returned with a vengeance on Friday, submitting the lowest card of 65, followed by the second-lowest score of 67 on Saturday to take a one-shot lead over South African Neil Schietekat. The South African had almost pulled out of the tournament after a freak accident on Tuesday when he fell out of a golf cart. Ogletree then tied the best round of the week with a 64 in Sunday’s final round (matched by Ian Poulter on the same day). He was 17-under par for his last 54 holes, when nobody else could do better than 7-under aggregate over their last three rounds. “I mean, if you’re leading and shoot the lowest round of the day, no one can catch you,” said Ogletree after picking up his third International Series title and a cheque of US$360,000. “That’s my mentality. I don’t want to win by one, I Andy Ogletree [RIGHT] was 17-under for his last 54 holes 87 I N T ER NAT IONA L SER I E S ENGL A ND C LO S E H O U S E , N EWC A S T L E | AU G U S T 1 7 - 2 0 | P R I Z E MON E Y U S $ 2 M I L L I ON