He has won a major and kept a storming Tiger Woods at bay but Geoff Ogilvy says the pressure of playing in Australia still gets to him.
The 2006 US Open champion said at the launch of this year's Australian Open golf tournament in Sydney today that trying too hard to impress home crowds had brought him undone in the past.
"Every year you come back you get this question and it makes you think about it even more," Ogilvy said with a smile at Fort Denison on a soggy Sydney day.
"You play well all year but ... not many of the public see it, so you want to show them you can actually play and you put a bit more pressure on yourself.
"It is bit like when you are a kid and you play in front of your old man, you try too hard when you come back here.
"When we play, we want to play well so that element makes it a bit more difficult."
Ogilvy headlines a strong local contingent for December's Australian Open at Royal Sydney, which will also feature Northern Ireland star Darren Clarke.
Australians Adam Scott, Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Aaron Baddeley, defending champion Craig Parry and New Zealand's Michael Campbell will all tee it up for the December 11-14 event.
The 'party hole' has been retained, with the 202m 17th certain to be the centre of attention for thirsty fans.
World No.18 Ogilvy had an up-and-down season on the US PGA tour this year - his ranking climbing as high as No.3 following some strong early season form.
His finest moment was his win in the World Golf Championships - CA Championship that snapped Woods' amazing tournament winning streak at six.
The Victorian was in title contention on the back nine of this year's US Open but couldn't finish the job.
On the topic of employment, Ogilvy hoped the US PGA Tour could weather the financial crisis that has taken a wrecking ball to American banks.
"We have a lot of financial companies that sponsor a lot of the Tour and it is obviously a sensitive time but the TV deal is in for another four years," he said.
"So hopefully we can ride it out."
He was more buoyant about Australia's golfing prospects with 12 players currently listed in the world's top 100.
"We have probably had better years in terms of wins but we have definitely been a pretty strong presence," he said.
"It could really explode at some point because we have a lot of young guys and Robert, Stuart, Adam and I have been out there for a while now and could have big years."
He predicted the likes of Jason Day, Aron Price, Nick Flanagan, Michael Sim and Marc Leishman to make an impact in the coming years.
Ogilvy said he had committed to playing in the Australian PGA in Coolum the week before the Open.
He was also checking the eligibility requirements for next year's $US20 million ($A28.73 million) Dubai World Championship and welcomed the prospect of more American golfers playing outside their homeland.
"They don't take it outside the USA very often so it would be good for golf if they showed their faces in other places for a while," he said.
