LIV Golf pro: "It's not what I thought my career would look like"
Andy Ogletree has opened up on the frustrating start he made to his professional career ahead of making his debut in Phil Mickelson's LIV Golf team.
Andy Ogletree has opened up on a frustrating start to his professional golf career that saw him banned by the PGA Tour for competing in the first LIV Golf event at Centurion Club two years ago.
Ogletree was tipped for big things after winning the 2019 U.S. Amateur. He even played in the same group as Tiger Woods in at the Masters.
But the American went down a path many golfers are all too familiar with.
Months of poor form had the golfer doubting whether or not to continue with his dream of playing the game for a living.
In an interview with bunkered, Ogletree conceded he was considering giving up professional golf altogether and putting his engineering degree to use.
When LIV came calling, he had no status anywhere and viewed it as an opportunity for one last chance.
He placed last in the inaugural LIV event and was widely mocked.
But after a fantastic year whereby he won the Asian Tour's International Series' order of merit, he has earned a spot back on LIV full time for the 2024 season, which kicks off in two weeks' time in Mexico.
He appears to have found a natural home with Phil Mickelson's HyFlyers. His other teammates are former PGA Tour players Brendan Steele and Cameron Tringale.
"Growing up you think you're going to turn pro and play on the PGA Tour," he told the publication.
"It's not exactly what I thought my career would look like."
Reflecting on those early days, he continued: "It's a time where I had to reflect and think – 'do I really want to do this full time?'
"I had a great degree and I was seriously thinking about an alternate route.
"I didn't have status anywhere, wasn't getting any sponsor invites into PGA Tour or Korn Ferry events so was driving round playing Monday qualifiers.
"I wasn't making any money and I really didn't enjoy the lifestyle.
"There's not anything wrong with that but I just felt like I wasn't getting any better at golf.
"I wasn't going to keep playing one Monday round where I needed to shoot 63 on a course that was not going to develop my game.
"I was just very frustrated. From Covid to turning pro and having sponsors invites and having to turn those down to have hip surgery to then turn those down and not getting the invites that I thought I would get and not playing well in the Monday qualifiers. It was all a culmination.
"I was very frustrated in general – not just in golf but in life. I probably wasn't very pleasant to be around. It was a low point in my life."
Elsewhere, LIV are reportedly turning their attention to England's Tyrrell Hatton as their next high-profile target.
If successful, it is expected the Englishman would join Jon Rahm's yet-to-be-named LIV team.
Recent reports suggest two of Rahm's Ryder Cup teammates, Tommy Fleetwood and Nicolai Hojgaard, have rejected offers from LIV.
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