After a couple of major wins, Phil Mickelson let go of a stranglehold he had on the U.S. Open and collapsed on the 18th hole today at Winged Foot. Lefty's train wreck handed the victory to Australian Geoff Ogilvy, a guy who's not real well-known outside of the small group of habitual Golf Channel viewers.
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]