What should have been a week to celebrate Turnberry and the best of Scottish golf is rapidly turning into Dueling Scotsmen. It started Monday when Sandy Lyle was asked if walking off the course due to injury at last year's Open had anything to do with him not being named captain of the next Ryder Cup squad—a position that went to Colin Montgomerie.

That is far worse than someone pulling out because of sore knuckles," Lyle said. "You have Monty dropping the ball badly — that's what you would call a form of cheating."

That "cheating" would be Montgomerie's iffy ball drop at the 2005 Indonesian Open. He was never punished, but the move rubbed a lot of players the wrong way. It must have, if it's still being brought up four years later.

Lyle, realizing he might be overreacting a bit, gave a non-apology apology, then waited outside the clubhouse to discuss the matter personally with Montgomerie. Monty never showed. Lyle should have let it drop there. He didn't.

We should get together and sort it out over a couple of pints. Colin is Colin. We do sometimes call him a bit of a drama queen. You have got to get around to it and stop hiding behind your manager and come out and have a talk."

Montgomerie responded by, well, hiding behind his manager, who gave a statement today:

It is all one-sided. It is ridiculous. If one person wants to make himself look ridiculous, then that is fine. People are making this out to be a row. It is not a row, it is one guy who has an issue. Monty does not want to be bothered. He wants to concentrate on the Open and not be drawn into this. Colin left a message with Sandy earlier in the year. Why would he want to speak to Sandy now? Sandy has just defamed him publicly."

You can be sure we haven't heard the last of this, especially in Scotland, where the media treat golf almost like a real sport.

Get Ready For More From Lyle-Monty Dustup [ESPN.com]
Sandy Lyle Calls Colin Montgomerie a ‘Drama Queen' [Times of London]

Mickelson, despite hitting just two fairways all day, still elected to hit the driver off the 18th tee. He missed the fairway by about 700 yards, and hit a risky approach shot that ended up plugged into a greenside bunker. He had almost no chance to get it up and down from there.

And Mickelson's double bogey came just minutes after Colin Montgomerie did the same damn thing. Phil had just won a couple majors, and he's relatively young. Monty's story is much sadder. He's spent his entire career being one of the world's best golfers and not winning a major — for so long, in fact, that it stopped being a story — and he finished at +6, tied with Mickelson, one back of Ogilvy. It was an unbelievable finish, and not in a good way. No one could close the deal. They could both use a lecture from Alec Baldwin. A Always, B Be, C Closing. Always be closing. ALWAYS be closing.

It's been an up-and-down day for Australia today. There was the picture of Australian ass below, which had to be a point of pride for the country. But the soccer team lost to Brazil, taking it to a low point. And now, Ogilvy wins the U.S. Open, accompanied by what had to be the first "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oy Oy Oy!" chants ever heard on a golf course. Walk with pride, Australians.

106th U.S. Open Championship - Round 4 Full Leaderboard [U.S. Open]