Joe Ogilvie and the Dreaded De-Greener

“Last week at Hartford I had two de-greeners, and that’s never a good thing.”
—Joe Ogilvie, on Thursday at the AT&T National

JOE OGILVIE IS PUTTING much better. And that, along with the Fourth of July, is cause for celebration. Because poor putting sucks, especially when you make your living by said putting.

How bad has it been for ol’ Joe? He explained it to the press after carving a 66 out of Aronimink Golf Club for a share of the first-round lead with Arjun Atwal, Jason Day and Nick Watney at the AT&T National.

“Last week at Hartford I had two de-greeners,” Joe said, “and that’s never a good thing, to have one. I usually have one maybe every three years, and to have two in the same tournament—for those of you at home, de-greeners is where you hit the green and putt it off of it.” (Laughter in the media center.)

De-greeners! That’s just perfect. I hadn’t heard that one, but it’s priceless as that credit-card empire likes to say. If Joe and his PGA Tour comrades don’t mind, I will give de-greener the acronym “DG” and file it in the ARMCHAIR GOLF acronym list with my recent addition, “SPD” (Sudden Putting Disaster). Actually, I think they’re cousins.

“So this was a lot better,” Joe said, finishing his thought. “I’m feeling more and more comfortable over my putter.”

And that makes me feel more comfortable. And probably you, too.

−The Armchair Golfer

Related:
Paul Lawrie and the Eight-Putt Green