Ogilvy grabs U.S. Open when Mickelson, Montgomerie stumble
Updated 6/20/2006 1:30 PM ET
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Victory was scripted in Phil Mickelson's mind a few weeks ago, when on the last few of nearly a dozen scouting trips to Winged Foot Golf Club, he purposely waited until twilight to play the final four holes.

He walked among the long shadows and recalled as a kid dreaming of winning the U.S. Open. He mapped out how to play that brutal stretch of par-4s and reminded himself not to stray from the fairways or his strategy. In Sunday's final round, he did both — and squandered a chance to join Tiger Woods as the only players in the last 50 years to win three consecutive major championships.

"Just spending the evenings on those holes thinking that if I can just make four pars on Sunday, I could do it," Mickelson said. "It hurts. I had it in my grasp and just let it go."

Mickelson won't be the only player to long lament their failures Sunday at a wild U.S. Open no one appeared ready to win.

Amid riveting moments of drama and despair, Australian Geoff Ogilvy fashioned the four pars Mickelson had envisioned, including a 25-foot chip-in at No. 17 and a 5-foot downhill putt after missing the 18th green, to win by one stroke.

Ogilvy shot 2-over-par 72 Sunday, finished at 5-over 285 for the tournament and became the first Aussie to win a major title since 1995, when Steve Elkington won the PGA Championship.

He came from three shots behind to edge Mickelson (final-round 74), Jim Furyk (70) and Colin Montgomerie (71). Each stood on the 18th tee at 4 over par with a chance to win, only to collapse amid several bad swings and decisions.

Needing a par to win, a bogey to force a Monday playoff with Ogilvy, Mickelson carded his only double bogey of the tournament. "I'm still in shock. I still can't believe I did that," Mickelson said.

"This one hurts more than any tournament because I had it won."

Afterward, Mickelson stood alone at the trophy presentation, still being cheered by the New York fans who had made him their favorite. He was the only runner-up at the ceremony, Furyk and Montgomerie having left.

"Congratulations to Geoff Ogilvy on some great play," Mickelson told the crowd. "I want to thank all the fans in New York and to all those people that supported me. The only thing I can say is I'm sorry. I can't believe I did that."

Mickelson walked hand-in-hand with his wife, Amy, and tried to explain his thought process at No. 18.

Mickelson had pushed his drive wildly to the right and deep into the tree line. He faced a 210-yard shot but hit a 3-iron that ricocheted off a tree branch and advanced only 25 yards.

"I had a good lie. I had to hit a big carving slice around the tree and overcut it," Mickelson said. "Just like I overcut the tee shot and some of the other shots.

"Obviously, in hindsight, if I hit it in the gallery on the other side and it doesn't cut, I'm fine. I ended up hitting the tree."

His next shot carried into a greenside bunker. His fourth shot failed to check up and rolled off the green. With one last chance to make bogey, Mickelson's chip shot rolled wide right and 6 feet past the hole.

Inside the scorer's hut, Ogilvy was trying to prepare himself mentally for a playoff.

"Phil is probably going to think about that one for a while because that's hard to swallow," Ogilvy said. "I thought I would make a playoff because 18 is a hard hole, but I never thought that would happen."

Montgomerie, Furyk had shot

Unlike Mickelson, Furyk and Montgomerie had stood in the middle of the 18th fairway, Furyk staring down a second U.S. Open title to match his 2003 victory and Montgomerie coming achingly close to his first major.

Furyk simply pulled his approach shot into the left bunker, blasted out to 5 feet and missed his putt for par.

"I played my heart out and it didn't work," said Furyk, who started the final round three strokes from the lead.

Montgomerie, buoyed by cheers from American galleries that he never received in his prime, pushed his 172-yard approach at No. 18 and left it short in the right rough. He chopped out his next shot and three-putted for a double bogey.

"This is as worse as it gets. You wonder sometimes why you put yourself through this," said Montgomerie, who turns 43 on June 23 and knows his chances for a major and first PGA Tour victory are becoming slim.

"I look forward to coming back next year for another U.S. Open ... disaster," he quipped.

"It was the last man standing, really," Montgomerie said. "The last man in."

Ogilvy was at 5 over and split the 18th fairway with his drive, only to discover the ball had stopped at the front end of a divot. He faced a 145-yard approach, but his shot spun down the steep slope at the front of the green.

"It really didn't affect how I hit the ball," he said. "I thought, 'I'll get this up and down and I'll lose by a shot.' ... I thought second in the U.S. Open is pretty good."

Ogilvy's chip carried 5 feet past the hole, leaving him a tricky downhill putt. He knocked it down and spent the next 20 minutes watching Mickelson's misadventures.

"I think I was the beneficiary of a little bit of charity," Ogilvy said. "I think I got a bit lucky."

Posted 6/18/2006 4:16 PM ET
Updated 6/20/2006 1:30 PM ET
Geoff Ogilvy won his first major by outlasting the field at the U.S. Open.
By Joe Larese, The Journal News
Geoff Ogilvy won his first major by outlasting the field at the U.S. Open.