MAMARONECK, N.Y. (AP) -- Phil Mickelson isn't the only major champion to blow the U.S. Open. He can only hope he doesn't end up like the others.
Sam Snead thought he needed a birdie on the par-5 18th hole at Philadelphia Country Club in 1939, then butchered the hole so badly that he wound up with a triple-bogey 8 and finished two shots out of the playoff.
He never won a U.S. Open, the only major keeping him from the career Grand Slam.
Ben Hogan was locked in a duel of generations with Arnold Palmer and 20-year-old amateur Jack Nicklaus at Cherry Hills in 1960. He felt he needed a birdie on the par-5 17th, and his wedge spun off the green and into a creek. Hogan never won another U.S. Open.
Palmer had a seven-shot lead on Billy Casper at Olympic Club in 1966 and went after the U.S. Open scoring record. His bold play led to an unthinkable collapse. Casper shot 32 on the back nine for a tie, then beat Palmer the next day in an 18-hole playoff.
Palmer never won another U.S. Open.
"As a kid, I dreamt of winning this tournament," Mickelson said on late Sunday afternoon, still in shock over a double-bogey that cost him his best chance at the U.S. Open. "I came out here and worked hard all four days, haven't made a bogey [on No. 18] all week. Even a bogey would have gotten me into a playoff. I just can't believe I did that."
Neither could anyone else.
Even with his less-than-best golf, Mickelson seemingly had both hands on the trophy. Despite failing to hit a single fairway on the back nine at Winged Foot, he had a one-shot lead when he got to the 18th tee.
"It's a 72-hole tournament, not 71," said Kenneth Ferrie, who played with Mickelson in the final pairing. "Through 17 holes, he had played good enough to win."
It would have been his third straight major, sending him to Royal Liverpool for a chance to become the sixth player to capture the career Grand Slam, and joining Tiger Woods as the only players to hold the four professional majors.
Instead, his double-bogey handed Geoff Ogilvy of Australia the U.S. Open.
"I am such an idiot," Mickelson said.
Good thing Mickelson already has three majors, or this could have been really ugly. That's one reason Palmer never took a beating for making double-bogey from the bunker on the 18th hole at the Masters to lose by one shot to Gary Player in 1961.
But this collapse will raise more questions about Lefty's decisions.
The perception of Mickelson before he broke through at the 2004 Masters was that he took too many risks, that he never saw the fat part of the green. But this was misleading. More times than not, his problems were more a result of poor execution than poor decisions.
Still, his belief in his ability to pull off any shot at times invites more trouble than he needs.
"I was playing for par," he said. "If I would make par, I'd win the tournament. I just thought, 'I can slice this.' I thought I'd just put a 3-iron on the green -- or if not on it, around it -- and get up-and-down."
Give him another 10 cracks at that shot, and he probably pulls it off nine times.
But he also brought a big number into the equation, one that he couldn't afford. Mickelson pulled off a far more difficult shot on the 17th hole when he cut a 5-iron around the trees and onto the 17th green.
All he lacked 20 minutes later was the execution.
What he probably could have used in that yardage book filled with copious notes about Winged Foot was a history lesson.
Payne Stewart laid up from the thick rough on the 18th hole at Pinehurst No. 2 in the final round of the 1999 U.S. Open, hit wedge into 15 feet and holed the par putt to beat Mickelson by one shot. Two years later, David Toms contemplated 5-wood to the par-4 18th green with a one-shot lead. He chose to lay up, hit sand wedge to 12 feet and made par to beat Mickelson by one.
Mickelson is the most gifted wedge player in the game. His odds of a par from on or around the green might have been better than from 125 yards away, but chances are he would not have made double-bogey from the fairway.
It was the seventh time in the last 10 majors that Mickelson had a chance to win on the back nine. No one has played them better.
"It's got to be a hard one to swallow for Phil because he's obviously been the outstanding player at majors in the last eight or nine months," Ogilvy said. "Sometimes things go your way. And sometimes they don't. And I'm glad it happened in the U.S. Open."
Mickelson cupped his hands over his black cap, and the disappointment could take awhile to go away. Perhaps that's why the only phrase that kept coming to mind as he stood before reporters was "I just can't believe I did that."
The question is whether anyone will be shocked if it happens again.
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
