“I started getting some phone calls” - Andy Ogletree on why he joined Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC for the 2024 LIV Golf season
International Series rankings No.1 Andy Ogletree joined Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC for the 2024 LIV Golf League season. The team announced its final pick for the roster on Monday. With this, the 25-year-old joined the likes of Mickelson, Cameron Tringale and Brendan Steele on the all-American roster.
Following the announcement, Ogletree came out to reveal why he joined the six-time major winner’s side. The golfer revealed that he received “some phone calls” from LIV Golf teams. The Asian Tour star claimed that the process felt like “college recruiting all over again.” However, Ogletree said that he couldn’t turn down Mickelson.
The golfer stated that he liked the way “Phil went about things” and dubbed it an opportunity to gain “knowledge from one of the greatest of all time.”
Speaking about his move to Phil Mickelson’s HyFlyers GC for the 2024 LIV Golf season, Andy Ogletree said, as quoted by livgolf.com:
"I started getting some phone calls and it was kind of like college recruiting all over again. A few teams wanted to meet and I had conversations with some of the captains and it followed from there. Since LIV Golf owns the teams, the final contract had to be approved and all of this was navigated over the last few weeks. I was in a fortunate situation being able to travel with LIV during the year.
I was at every tournament as a reserve. I was seeing how every tournament works and the team dynamic and the support structure they put in place. I was able to ask a lot of questions and get opinions from different players. And I liked the way Phil went about things and to get that knowledge from one of the greatest of all time is an opportunity I couldn’t turn down."
It is pertinent to note that Ogletree fills the HyFlyers’ roster vacancy created by the relegation of James Piot. The 2019 U.S. Amateur champion rightfully replaced the 2021 U.S. Amateur winner. It’ll be interesting to see how the golfer fits into the team in his second LIV Golf stint.
Andy Ogletree returns to the LIV Golf
For the unversed, Ogletree was part of LIV Golf’s inaugural Invitational Series event in London in 2022. The golfer toured the 2023 season with LIV as a reserve. He even made three appearances. He finished sixth on the points leaderboard in DC, shooting 7 under while replacing injured Crushers DC player Paul Casey.
He later stepped in for injured Majesticks co-captain Lee Westwood in Tulsa. He also stepped in for Crusher GC’s Anirban Lahiri in Orlando. While he shot 62 in the final round in Tulsa, he managed a 43rd-position finish on the points leaderboard in Orlando.
The golfers’ decent outings saw him end up in the Open Zone of the point standings (Nos. 25-44). This enabled him to sign with any team with a vacant spot. The golfer signed on with the HyFlyers GC.