KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) -Geoff Ogilvy was in good company, and hardly anyone recognized him.
The former U.S. Open champion had played the first two rounds of the Mercedes-Benz Championship with only one bogey on his card to take the lead going into the weekend, but he strolled out of the Ritz-Carlton at Kapalua without anyone turning a head, reaching for a camera or asking for an autograph.
It's a wonder they even recognized him.
His wife, Juli, was elegantly dressed in red on their way to dinner with good friend Adam Scott and actress Kate Hudson. Ogilvy wore blue jeans and flip-flops, his face unshaven because he forgot to bring his electric razor to Hawaii.
"He doesn't care," his wife said later. "The only reason he owns a pair of shoes is because he has to."
She could think of only one other time her husband wore a tuxedo after their wedding, and that was three years ago when they were invited to dinner at the White House. Ogilvy wound up at a table with President George W. Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and this was a month before he even won his first major.
Ogilvy is not terribly big on style.
Even on the PGA Tour, where images are formed before majors are won, the 31-year-old Australian doesn't mind being ignored.
The 2009 season began last week with so much attention on a crop of young players who appear poised to challenge Tiger Woods. The PGA Tour even ran a snappy commercial promoting this clash of generations. On one side was Anthony Kim, Sergio Garcia and Camilo Villegas. On the other side were players like Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh.
And where does Ogilvy fit in?
"I'm in the middle," he said. "I'm in the background."
Maybe not for much longer.
Ogilvy opened the season with a wire-to-wire victory in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, the fifth PGA Tour victory of his career. That's as many as Stewart Cink, but the quality of wins is becoming impressive.
