Phil Mickelson's bid for a third consecutive major ended with a shocking collapse when he bungled his way to a double bogey on the final hole, giving the US Open to Geoff Ogilvy.
The winning shot in this test of survival on Sunday at Winged Foot was Ogilvy's 6-foot par putt that he figured was only good for second place.
The memory will be Mickelson on the 72nd hole, one minute on the verge of joining Tiger Woods as the only players over the last 50 years with three straight majors, the next minute looking like the Mickelson of old with a reckless attempt to get out of trouble.
``I still am in shock that I did that. I just can't believe that I did that,'' Mickelson said. ``I'm such an idiot.''
The celebration took place not on the 18th green, but in the clubhouse.
Ogilvy, whose resiliency carried him to the Match Play Championship in February, closed with a 2-over 72 in the highest-scoring US Open since 1974 at Winged Foot. He became the first Australian to win the US Open since David Graham in 1981.
"I think I was the beneficiary of a little bit of charity," Ogilvy said.
Ogilvy did not just stand around waiting for handouts, though. The 29-year-old Aussie battled to the very end. He holed an 18-foot chip to save par on the 17th hole and then had to overcome a miserable break on the 18th when his tee shot landed in a divot. His approach lost power as it reached the green, tumbling down the slope. He chipped up and, unlike Colin Montgomerie and Jim Furyk before him, made the putt.
Even so, this was Mickelson's major to win, and the first one he threw away.
Instead of being linked with Woods in the majors, the comparisons turned to Jean Van de Velde at Carnoustie in 1999, when the Frenchman took triple bogey on the last hole of the British Open. But at least Van de Velde got a chance in a playoff.
Mickelson could only cup his hands over his cap and acknowledge a New York crowd that he disappointed again.
And he had only himself to blame.
He had a two-shot lead with four holes to play, but his stubborn side continued to hit driver, and his miscues finally caught up with him. Mickelson hit only two fairways in the final round, none on the back nine. And while he found a way to escape most times, Winged Foot got its vengeance at the end.
Mickelson's tee shot on the 18th went so far left that it clattered through the trees by a corporate hospitality tent, into the trampled rough. Instead of playing out to the fairway and trying to get par -- just as Payne Stewart and David Toms had done in beating Mickelson in majors, he went after the green and hit a tree, the ball advancing only 25 yards.
The third shot sailed left of the green and buried in the bunker, plugged so badly that Mickelson had no chance to get close to the flag because the green ran away from him. He blasted out and through the green, into more rough, then chipped back 8 feet past the hole before making the last putt to close with double bogey.
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