Ogilvy defies treacherous winds to shoot 69

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

PACIFIC PALISADES, California (Reuters) - Former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy shrugged off the worst weather conditions of the day to move into contention at the Northern Trust Open on Thursday.

The Adelaide native eked out a two-under-par 69 in the opening round at Riviera Country Club after contending with strong, shifting winds in the afternoon.

"I played really solid on my last nine holes," Ogilvy told reporters after finishing four strokes behind the pacesetting K.J. Choi of South Korea.

"I could have had a couple more birdies but I hit the ball nicely. I did everything quite tidy, actually.

"I hit a really horrible tee shot off 12 and made a bogey there, and that's really the only real terrible shot I hit," he added, referring to an errant drive that ended up beside a tree to the right of the fairway.

Ogilvy, who clinched his maiden major title at the 2006 U.S. Open, had to deal with shifting winds that gusted up to 42kph.

"It was weird," said the 30-year-old, who made a fast start by chipping in for eagle at the par-five first. "We had (holes) three, four and five into the wind and then seven comes the exact opposite way.

"Yet we had seven, eight and nine straight into the wind, which is not possible. The winds were weird for a while and it was pretty hard to work out where it was.