U.S. Open: Mickelson's meltdown provides Ogilvy a major gift

MAMARONECK, N.Y. — One of the most bizarre finishes in U.S. Open history forever will be remembered not so much for the way the champion, Australian Geoff Ogilvy, won the first major title of his career.

Instead, it will go down in golfing lore as the day Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie butchered their chances at glory by closing with unfathomable double bogeys at Winged Foot's treacherous 450-yard 18th hole.

The defining moments of Ogilvy's gritty performance were his 30-foot chip into the cup to save par at the 17th and a remarkably poised par at 18 after his drive landed in a sand divot. His 6-foot putt on the final hole gave him a 72 for the day and left him at 5-over 285, the highest winning Open score since Hale Irwin's 7-over 287 prevailed in the 1974 Open at this same brutal venue.

Mickelson and Montgomerie each seemingly had one hand on the silver trophy before letting it slip from his grasp on the final hole.

They were not alone in their dismay. Jim Furyk (70), who tied for second with Mickelson (74) and Montgomerie (71) at 6-over 286, bogeyed the 18th after missing a 5-foot par putt. Padraig Harrington (71-287) finished with three straight bogeys.

But no one felt more despair than Mickelson, now an Open runner-up four times since 1999. The people's choice all week in the New York suburbs, he had prepared meticulously with a dozen practice rounds at Winged Foot since late April, only to have his driver desert him when he needed it most.

"I am still in shock that I did that," said Mickelson, who held a two-shot lead with three holes to play. "I am such an idiot. I just couldn't hit the fairway all day."

Mickelson hit only two fairways, none on the back nine, but his tee shot at 18 was by far his worst of the week. He was so far left, his tee shot actually hit a huge hospitality tent and ricocheted back into the rough, landing in a fairly decent lie trampled down by spectators.

Mickelson said he had 201 yards to the hole and tried to hit a sliced 3-iron shot around a tree between him and the green. Instead, the shot hit the tree flush and almost came back at him, about 25 yards from where he struck it.

His third shot avoided the tree but landed in a greenside bunker, leaving him a classic "fried egg" lie in fine sand. At that point, he needed to get down in two shots to make bogey and force an 18-hole playoff today. It never happened.

Mickelson's sand shot came out hot and scooted 20 feet past the cup and into deep rough. Needing to sink that chip to tie Ogilvy, Mickelson ran his fifth shot 8 feet past before making the putt for 6.

When he got to his ball in the bunker, Mickelson surely must have gasped. At the 16th, he also made bogey because of a poor lie in a greenside sand trap. Now, it was happening again, just as he was on the verge of winning his first Open and third straight major.

"It was buried," he said. "It plugged in the lip on 16, plugged in a divot on 18. I don't know what happened in those bunkers. I've never seen such sand all week. Where those balls were, I just had very difficult shots."

Montgomerie, 42, may never again get a better shot at winning his first major title. He was in the middle of the fairway at the 18th hole, 172 yards from the flag.

He switched from 6-iron to 7-iron because, he said, "I thought adrenaline would kick in. I usually hit the ball 10 yards further in that circumstance. I caught it slightly heavy, and it went slightly right. It was a poor shot, no question about that, and I put myself in a poor position."

His difficult chip left him a 40-foot par putt, which he ran 10 feet past the hole. He missed the ensuing bogey putt, which would have gotten him into a playoff today.

"You wonder sometimes why you put yourself through this," Montgomerie said. "I did the hard thing, hit the fairway. That's my strength normally. I hit the wrong club for my second shot. Geoff [Ogilvy] holed a great putt for par to avoid a playoff there, and all credit to him. He was the last man standing, really. It was the last man in."

Ogilvy, 29, has been playing the PGA Tour since 2001 and has two victories, including the prestigious Match Play Championship at LaCosta in February. Playing in only his third Open, he never broke par, but he was not complaining after earning $1.225 million.

"At 18, I hit the chip I had to hit and made the putt I had to make," Ogilvy said. "I thought, 'Make this putt and come in second in the Open on your own.' That's a pretty good result. I was hitting that putt thinking this may get me in a playoff. ... It's got to be a hard one to swallow for Phil."

Indeed it was.

"This is a tournament I dreamed of winning as a kid," Mickelson said. "I came out here weeks and months in advance to get ready and had it right there in my hand, man. I was right there, and I let it go. I just cannot believe I did that."