New Year brings many changes for Geoff Ogilvy

Geoff Ogilvy is the only player in the field at the SBS Championship this week who has previously won this event at Kapalua. One would imagine Ogilvy would be looking at familiarity with the course and fond memories as advantages in the defense of his title.

That may well be true but there are still quite a few changes for the Aussie to deal with this week. For starters, he has a whole new set of clubs in the bag. Ogilvy has made the switch to Titleist from Cobra, and as Gene Yasuda from GolfWeek reports, is using Titleist MB irons and a 909 D3 driver along with Vokey Spin Milled wedges and a Scotty Cameron prototype putter in Hawaii.

Don’t expect the lanky defending champion to use new sticks as an excuse, however. When asked before the tournament about how the equipment changes might affect him, including those brought on by the new groove rules, he confidently responded that he wouldn’t have much trouble adjusting as his new irons have the same grooves he was using last year.

“I have been using them in practice quite a lot.  I’m pretty comfortable” said Ogilvy.

The golf clubs aren’t the only change for Ogilvy this season. According to reports, Puma Golf has not renewed Ogilvy’s apparel contract, choosing instead to focus all their marketing efforts on young gun Ricky Fowler. Ogilvy is now wearing a Titleist hat and FootJoy gloves and shoes (keeping it in the Acushnet family). His clothing contract is still undecided, however there is speculation that he may sign a deal with Southern California golf clothing designer Travis Mathew.

Titleist, Cobra, Puma or no Puma, Ogilvy has showed with his solid start at the SBS Championship (rounds of 69 and 66 to go into the weekend T2) that at the end of the day, it is all about the player and not just the tools he is using.