Did Geoff Ogilvy drive his golf ball onto Ian Poulter’s balcony?

Geoff Ogilvy is looking the likely culprit behind a stray golf ball landing on Ian Poulter’s balcony.

The practice rounds are under way at St Andrews with golfers fine-tuning their golf games ahead of this week’s 144th Open Championship.

As one would expect, Ian Poulter is a part of the field and earlier he posted a photo to Instagram of a golf ball lying on the balcony of the room he is staying in for the week. We’re assuming it’s right on the golf course, perhaps alongside the famous 17th Road Hole but it has some pretty distinct marks on it.

Just woke up and have a @titleist 2 with a black line and a red line on my balcony. Someone has hit it a big wide to get up here.

A photo posted by Ian Poulter (@ianjamespoulter) on Jul 14, 2015 at 1:42am PDT

Canadian golfer Graham DeLaet was quick to pin the blame on Australian Geoff Ogilvy:

@Amanda_Balionis @IanJamesPoulter I’d ask Geoff Ogilvy. #wideright

— Graham DeLaet (@GrahamDeLaet) July 14, 2015

And with good reason. It turns out Geoff Ogilvy is known for marking his ball this way and he admits to it in a recent issue of Golf Digest (see image below) as a nod to his favourite AFL team, St.Kilda:

This is the same way I’ve marked my ball since I was 14. The black and red lines are a nod to my favorite Australian Rules Football club, St. Kilda. It’s weird when I play in a team event, like the Presidents Cup, and I hit someone else’s ball. I’m so accustomed to my mark.

Now unless someone in his group is using his golf balls, this looks a lot like Geoff Ogilvy sent one wide and right this morning at St Andrews. Or he knows exactly where Poulter is staying and hit a perfect wedge to his balcony.

Either way, this is funny stuff. Let’s hope he gets it going straight when the real golf starts on Thursday.

UPDATE:

Well it seems there was no doubt about it. Poulter saw Ogilvy later in the day and asked him about it. Turns out it was there from an errant drive the night before. He got Ogilvy to sign it and they gave it away in a competition. Perfect.

Well I have just got Geoff Ogilvy to sign his Balcony @Titleist 2. He said it was hit there last night. Comp time. pic.twitter.com/7fei1KhIFd

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) July 14, 2015