Monday observations

Monday, June 22, 2009 3:17 pm (Eastern)

By David Barrett

It could have been a great story line, instead it was a fifth U.S. Open runner-up finish for Phil Mickelson

A year ago, it was Tiger Woods limping towards victory at Torrey Pines on a bad leg that would require surgery the next week.

This year, it was another great story line. Phil Mickelson was smiling his way towards victory, awash in the cheers of the New York fans who love him, about to win one for his wife Amy just before she undergoes breast-cancer surgery, and finally breaking through in a U.S. Open after four runner-up finishes.

But that was Tiger and this was Phil. In 2008, Woods summoned his best when it mattered most, holing a 12-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole to force a playoff, which he won over Rocco Mediate (incidentally making a birdie on the 18th to once again erase a one-stroke deficit, then winning on the 19th hole).

In 2009, Mickelson, tied for the lead and with momentum as well as the gallery on his side, fizzled with bogeys on the 15th and 17th holes.

Photo: © Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images It was another disappointing end to a U.S. Open for Phil Mickelson

We’ve seen it all before, though the details differ. That makes five U.S. Open runner-up finishes for Mickelson, breaking the record of four that he previously shared with Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, and Jack Nicklaus. Snead, of course, is the only other one of that group who never won a U.S. Open.

Mickelson may still end up winning one. But if he does, he’ll have to block out a lot of bad memories.

There was the bogey on the 16th hole in 1999 at Pinehurst No. 2, failing to convert an easy up-and-down, to let a one-stroke lead slip away to Payne Stewart, who then birdied the 17th and won by one. Next came 2002 at Bethpage Black, where Mickelson’s biggest problem was that he started the final round too far behind Tiger Woods and finished three behind. In 2004, there was an ugly three-putt double bogey on the par-three 17th at Shinnecock Hills, where Mickelson finished two strokes behind Retief Goosen. Worst of all, there was the double bogey on the 18th at Winged Foot in 2006 to lose by one to Geoff Ogilvy.

This time, Mickelson put himself in a hole with bogeys on the sixth and seventh, but roared back with a birdie on the ninth, a 45-foot birdie putt on the 12th, and a spectacular second shot to three feet for an eagle on the 13th. The stars all seemed to be aligned. If fans could ever will a victory for a player, it was going to happen with Phil. But neither they nor he could will in his par putts from about five feet on the 15th and 17th, both of which he hit tentatively and missed on the low side.

Perhaps it’s an unfair comparison, but that was very un-Tiger-like.

There was another great story line at Bethpage Black. David Duval, a non-factor on Sunday at any tournament since 2002, also recovered from early missteps and birdied 13, 14, and 15 to tie Mickelson and Lucas Glover for the lead. A tournament that to this point had been mostly notable for rain delays had turned into, potentially, an Open for the ages.

Duval faltered with a bogey on the 17th, too, but in his case it was more understandable.

So, we were left with Lucas Glover. A deserving champion, considering his clutch birdie on the 16th hole and nerveless par on 17. It was the second career win for the 29-year-old; presumably, there will be more to come.

We were also left with memories of a final round that provided more than its share of excitement, though it couldn’t quite sustain it to the 72nd hole. And we were left with the best potential story lines sitting on the shelf, but sometimes that’s the way it goes. Especially when Phil Mickelson is involved at a U.S. Open.

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