MILWAUKEE (AP) -- Joe Ogilvie tries to absorb everything Warren Buffett has to say while they dine at the billionaire's favorite steakhouse in Omaha.

He also hopes to have a golf grouping someday that includes Buffett, Microsoft's Bill Gates and his father for a friendly day on the links.

Ogilvie has high aspirations for his career, too.

He says that his time as a pro will end relatively soon because the 34-year-old Duke economics grad wants to move into another role, maybe working toward becoming commissioner of the PGA Tour.

"I wouldn't go work for the Tour to try to be the No. 9 guy at the Tour. That's something that I think if I decided to go that route, it's something I'd want to be on track for," Ogilvie said Monday.

Ogilvie comes off as a sharp executive working on a casual Friday. Dressed in a blue blazer without a tie, he alternates between leaning forward on his more important points, rocking back to ponder questions and hinting that golf is just a phase in his life.

"I'm going to definitely be a golfer for the next eight to 10 years, but at the same time I realize that even though golf for a lot of guys is forever, I don't think for me it's going to be," Ogilvie said. "I want to have different things going so when the curtain closes I can kind of gracefully walk into something else, maybe pick up without missing a beat."

And maybe that's sometime after PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem eventually steps down. Finchem has a contract through 2012, and Ogilvie has already seen a lot of the work done behind the scenes.

As one of four players on the PGA Tour's nine-member Policy Board, Ogilvie has been part of discussions that included enacting drug testing, the FedExCup playoffs, standardizing invitational tournaments and tweaking the retirement plan.

The board, which also includes pros Stewart Cink, Brad Faxon and David Toms along with four volunteer independent businessmen and a PGA of America director, has also made the TPC Network stronger and witnessed Finchem's negotiations with several TV networks.

All of it has come at a cost to Ogilvie's golf game -- he finished the 2008 season 102nd on the money list -- and his family back home in Austin, Texas.

"From a time commitment standpoint, it takes a lot more time to do it right," said Ogilvie, who'll take a one-year break in 2009 from the board but plans to return in 2010. "The average Tour player probably relates to me a little bit more than they relate to those other guys. So, consequently, they look at me as a little more accessible. They certainly talk about their grievances a little more freely with me and a little more often with me."

Ogilvie has strong opinions on golf's major issues, including drug testing, pace of play and marketing. But he wouldn't hire himself for the top post on the PGA Tour.

"I've got one major weakness. I have zero operating experience running a company," Ogilvie said. "You certainly wouldn't hire a guy to run a $2 billion company that's never run a company before or never actually had a job besides golf.

"If I was on that board that was hiring someone, I would never even look at me."

That doesn't mean he wouldn't work for it by taking a lesser role and learning for a few years, suggesting he could learn by running the Nationwide Tour.

He'll also see first-hand how players react to drug testing. He says he has "no doubt" that some golfers have smoked marijuana, but doesn't think there's widespread use of performance enhancing drugs.

"I think it'll be a non-event," Ogilvie said. "It'll be a little bit of a hassle after you make your double bogey, the guy coming in saying you've got to go pee in a cup. That'll ruffle a few feathers, but in this day and age, you probably need it."

And maybe the Tour needs a strong voice of a player in the management ranks.

In the meantime, Ogilvie, who has eaten with Buffett about 10 times, is keeping busy with investments and thinking about how he would pick Gates' brain if the two met.

He said he's much more interested in the philanthropic work of the billionaires like Gates as opposed to how they amassed their fortunes.

"I can understand philanthropic work more than I can understand the Vista operating system," said Ogilvie, who admitted he owned a Mac. "Obviously he's one of the smartest tech guys that ever lived, so it would be fun just to think about, 'Where we would go from here?' -- that type of thing."

Copyright 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.