jean van de velde fired his longtime caddy after his diaster....looking back when jean reached for the driver on 18....caddy should have handed him a 3wood or less
Ogilvy did his best Ben Curtis impression Sometimes you collapse and you hang on because the guys behind you collapse too, that's also part of the sport
How you dont decide to pitch out and try to get a wedge in tight is mind blowing. Best part of your game and you try a miracle shot instead. Im guessing Bones tried and failed to convince him.
Completely agree. He knew the score, he knew Ogilvie had parred. He knew a par would win and a bogey would get him into a playoff. And after he sliced his drive into the tent, he should have also known a scrambling four was within his grasp -- and he didn't need a miracle shot to get there. I remember watching this. Other players had a chance on 18 and dropped the ball, as it were, including Furyk and Monty. I was yelling at the screen for him to punch out. He should have remembered what David Toms did at the PGA five years earlier in 2001...against no other than he, himself. Toms was leading Phil by one stroke going into 18. He put his drive into the rough. Rather than play a risky shot over the water, he lays up to a comfortable position. He puts his third shot to within 12 ft and drained one of the most pressure putts he ever faced -- for par. Mick was on in two, but 32 ft out. He gave the putt a good ride, and it barely missed. And it was Toms' day for celebrating. This was a lesson Mick could have taken with him on that fateful 18th at Winged Foot. Know your game and Trust your game. Let's not forget that Mick had won the previous two Majors; the 2004 PGA and the 2005 Masters. The US Open would have given him 3-in-a-row and a chance for the 'McSlam' at the Open Champ. It was a tough lesson in course management. I believe only Ben Hogan had three consecutive modern-day majors and of course the Tiger-Slam in 2000-1. Glad to see Mick get his share of history at the 2021 PGA.
You would think they would have had another camera angle on Phil's second shot on 18. It "caught an elm tree solid", yet there is no video at all of the ball in flight, nor was there video of the ball in flight on the third shot. Hard to believe.
There was one option you didn’t mention, the best one actually. Punch out and advance it down the fairway. It’s not complicated at all. With his wedge game he’d have at minimum a 50% chance at 4….and a 95 % chance at 5. It was the dumbest decision of his career.
Phil has always said it was the 2nd shot that killed him. He was driving it awful all day so he doesn’t regret the drive, he regrets the 2nd shot. He just didn’t carve it enough and give himself enough room to cut it around the tree. His short game was so good that week. He just wanted to get it up around the green somewhere. Looking back, I don’t get why he didn’t just advance it into the fairway and try to get it up and down from 100yds with a wedge. If he doesn’t, he’s in a playoff the next day. Hindsight is always 20/20.
The second shot decision was bad, but Phil only hit 2 fairways out of 13 drives heading into that hole. You leave the driver in the bag in that situation.
@@tonyc7301 He's talked about that. His next club in the bag was a 4-wood I believe. It wasn't enough club to get to the corner off the tee. He needed to hit driver.
@@Hillbillykaren Oh yes we were little girl.. I should had said myself and my wife were there.She 's a big Phil fan. Had just been to the beer tent while Geoff Ogilvy was playing 17. Were you there? We don't remember you.
Well to be fair the others gagged too. - Ogilvy (the winner!) had a 2-stroke lead in the middle of the round, made 4 bogeys in the middle of the round to fall behind and needed a miracle par on 17 and an up-and-down on 18 just to post +5. At the time it looked like it would be 1 or 2 short. - Montgomerie made a miracle putt on 17 to get to +4, hit a poor approach on 18, a poor pitch shot then a horrible 3-putt from inside 20 feet to make double. - Furyk missed a 5-foot par putt on 18 which would have put him at +5. - Harrington got to +4 with 3 holes to go. Bogeyed them all to finish at +7. Believe it or not Ogilvy actually played the worst golf down the stretch, +4 in the last 11 holes which was the worst score among the contenders. He really won it with his play in the first 7 holes.
Exactly right. Ogilvy choked on every shot when the pressure was on. He lucked into chipping in on 17, and made a good up and down on 18, but only after whiffing the approach. He was the least deserving winner of the bunch.
Of all the U.S. Opens Phil should have won, this one stands out the most to me. If he leaves the driver in the bag, at worst he’s in a playoff. This was indicative of his “If you ain’t first, you’re last” mentality that still cropped up from time to time.
As a Phil phan in those days, I remember how very close Phil came to winning not one, but multiple U.S. Opens. One of the painful memories was the 1995 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. Phil finished tied 4th, four strokes behind the champion, Corey Pavin. In the '95 Open, Phil played the par 5 16th six strokes over par; two bogeys and two double bogeys. If he plays it in even par he wins the U.S. Open by two strokes. 😭
@@sludge8506 Phil had been blocking and slicing his drives all day, so a cut under the pressure of the 72nd hole was not a high percentage play. I always thought Phil should've used his 4W off the tee and hit a nice gentle draw. With that club he probably could've hit around a 240 yard tee shot. The 18th at Winged Foot was playing 450 yards that day, so Phil would've had around 200-210 yards for his approach. A nice smooth 5 iron into the heart of the green sets up a two-putt par and a U.S. Open victory.
I’m convinced that if I was caddying for Phil on the 18th tee, he would have won the US Open or made the playoff. He needed a par to win it, a bogey 5 for a playoff, and to make probably 3 mistakes on one hole is ridiculous! He totally blew it!!!
Nowadays, no one really needs a driver on 18 for the pros. Most players can easily take a long iron into the fairway, around 240-250 out, and then have around 200 left in, which is around a 6 iron.
@@adityaniwalkar6224 That was then and this is now Also Mickelson was hitting it all over the lot, if you banana slice a fairway wood into the deep rough now you're really in trouble
He hit 2 out of 13 fairways on the day heading into that hole. You leave the driver in the bag. The decision on the second shot was awful. Just advance it down the fairway and leave yourself a short wedge into the green. With Phil's short game he still had a good shot at par and a bogey at absolute worst.
Phil has 6 second place finishes at the U.S. open and this is the one that he 100% should have won. He was in his absolute prime and had won the two previous majors. Just three horrible shots in a row and two terrible decisions in a row on that hole. Phil had only hit 2 fairways out of 13 drives on the day and still took out driver on the hole, knowing a par would win the tournament. How the heck he tried to go for the green on the second shot was insane. I know he won many tournaments with his go for broke style, but that was not the situation to try that low percentage shot.
This couldn't have happened to a more DESERVING guy. When the pressure was on, this guy was an absolute trainwreck. This is absolutely amazing to watch. Love it.
For real? He won 57 worldwide events including 6 Majors. You don’t do that by being a train wreck when the pressure is on. Yes, he threw away at least 2 U.S. Opens, but that comes with the territory of his playing style. Only because the majority of best playing days paralleled Tiger Woods is not considered an even greater golfer than he already is. Name one golfer in the last 40 years not named Tiger Woods that is more accomplished than Phil Mickelson.
Mickleson played it like an amateur, Ogilvy played it like a US Open champion. Ogilvy pars the last 4 holes including driving the 18th fairway - into a divot. He escapes out short of the green, plays an excellent high pitch then drains the 10 footer.
You MUST understand what the U.S. Open truly means. Your biggest opponent is the golf course, all others are secondary. That's why these courses are chosen: to kick your ass!
One of the best wedge players ever, getting out of trouble and then sticking a wedge by the pin was where he should have relied...why o why woild he try that shot
That’s true though I remember vintage Phil, he always went for it .. didn’t matter if he only had a small opening the size of a hula hoop, he was going for it . Super entertaining to watch . Support Phil ! 💪 💯
Not really. Phil has always come off as having a phony "jovial" guy persona, while in earnest, he's a gambling-addicted, entitled showoff. He puts on the appearance of an outgoing friendly guy, but his character underneath has always been suspect. No one with a gambling addiction like his is to be revered.
Yes a punch out into the fairway would have been the play here but that's just not Phil Mickelson. I think if he had a do over he'd play it the same way.
Phil was 5 shots better than field, tee to green, at ridiculous Shinnecock set-up but Goodsen made every putt he looked at down the stretch-----that was Phil's best shot at OPEN
I've never known why he chose to hit a driver when his driving game was terrible that day. He should have hit a 3 wood or a long iron. My guess is that he wanted to bomb a huge drive and give himself a little wedge to the green, where he would have won it for sure.
@@afdkj I remember Colin Montgomery choked on the same hole earlier in the round with a double bogey. He should have won it too if not Mickelson. He hit a 3 wood off the tee. He hit a perfect shot right in the middle of the fairway, which left him between a six and seven iron to the green. He went with the seven and came up short in the rough. He had trouble getting out of it and ended up with a double bogey just like Mickelson. A bogey would have gotten him into a playoff. And Jim Furyk missed a three foot putt that would also have gotten him into a playoff. So Mickelson wasn't the only one who blew it that day. It was a brutal hole.
Nowhere near as bad, but he indeed has his legacy in his hands. Mito had to avoid the creek to the right. Almost makes you think that he joined LIV so that he can put that out of his memory easier.
It seems like this loss at Winged Foot got into Phil's head and stayed for future US Opens. Still holding out hope he can get the grand slam, but the long game from players like DeChambeau, D Johnson, Wolff are closing the door.
I love the people disparaging Phil. "Second best"....."He ain't no Tiger". Meanwhile Phil is in the best shape of his life while Tiger is having his 40th surgery and probably in rehab every other month to get off the pills, not to mention the car accidents, you name it. Shit, no one gets as pumped for Tiger as me. We were born 6 days apart and my nickname by my grandfather was, in fact, Tiger. I was made fun of by my family because of that. No one had even heard of Tiger outside of the golfing world and mostly in California. I'm talking 80's timeline. But to say Phil is some kind of second-class golfer is a joke. Phil might win the Masters well into his 50's. Tiger was the best in his prime at 25-35, but Phil is one of those guys that ages like fine wine. We don't realize yet how lucky we have been to see the great players of the 90's and 00's. Before club and ball technology made good players great. Now it is a strength and mental challenge. I hope Phil wins the US Open here in a couple of weeks. It'll be vindication from the multitude of times he came up a shot short. I was happy that Payne won in '99 after about 6 months later, but it's about time for Phil to cash one of those rain checks.
The "Let's go Phil" chants by the drunk New York cretins on 18 was so out of line and in appropriate that it is hard to put into words. Totally the wrong time for that, and it was disgusting.
Remember it very well, Montgomery made a complete twat of himself that was a great watch, and then big Phil absolutely topped it a fantastic melt down on 18 hilarious 😂😂😂
These guys are obviously fan boys of Phil and couldn't bring themselves to state the obvious, that Mickelson had a brain explosion. To suggest by Mickelson showing up to the presentation was some heroic gesture was laughable. Of course he is obligated to be there!
It's probably worse than Van Velde because Phil is a far more accomplished player. He made three bad swings in a row. Should have hit a long iron off the tee and make no worse than five..What is inexcusable is that he'd already won two majors...
Disagree. You correctly state that he is an accomplished Player, he is also an accomplished 'get out of trouble Player'. He is renowned for his ability to craft the exact type of shot he was attempting, so why shouldn't he play to his strengths? He's regularly in that position, due to his sloppy driving. The shot in question, a big fade with a 3 iron, is really not that difficult for a Touring Pro, he just didn't catch it right, obviously. He would have correctly surmised that even if the sliced 3 iron didn't quite make the green, he would have had a chip, one of his strengths, and a putt to win. This would have been a similar scenario to the punch it back on to the fairway option, which he must have considered. I think that you are being a little unfair, and harsh, to call it 'inexcusable' as the strategy seemed to be correct. I don't think he made 3 bad swings, just 1, the Drive, the other 2, trying to work the ball out of a not ideal lie, always were risky.
Van De Velde's was the worst I think, because Van De Velde had already recieving a gift from the golfing Gods when he hit a wayward drive on 18. It somehow avoided the burn. Not content with being saved from a lifetime of regret, Van De Velde tempted fate yet again. It amused me when people suggest that Van De Velde may have been unlucky on his second shot, as if rattling a ball into the grandstand wouldn't bring disaster into play. Suggestions that Van De Velde's second shot was unlucky because it hit a one inch point and backed into the burn is really misunderstanding the situation.
The winners take was $1.2 for winning the 2006 US Open. If you watch closely Mickelson goes into porta potty and live bets against himself after 17. He won $1.5 large on bet plus the 2nd place pot, more than doubling his take if he had won. The LIV guys know where it’s at ….
Not surprising. Maybe he had Bones double that one down for him in the 18th tee. Makes Pete Rose look like a poker. Bones is gustcas much a grifter as Mickelson.
There was a kid who asked Phil for an autograph when he was close to his ball after his drive (could have been after the second shot). The Kids' father yanked him out of the way and said...no (in a nice enough manner to his kid). But the fans surrounding 18 when Phil is plugged in the bunker, having essentially blown the US Open, who kept screaming Let's go Phil nonstop should have been escorted off the property (and it was most of the people).
Lord, take the amount of money that you’ve made in your career, whatever it is that you do. Now double it and I’ll tell you that we’ll pay you that amount just to come to our company and then you earn more the better you do. Btw, instead of working a 4 day a week schedule, it’s down to three days. You’re saying no? Please.
@@walterheisenberg251 I’d that’s all that’s important to you, that’s right, take the money and run. And there’s a reason no one watches LIV and PGA ratings are down precipitously. He was golf ambassador. He had a responsibility to the game, like the greats before him. And he blew it up.
The lady doth protest too much in these comments. Phil's EXACT same aggressiveness/stupidity/temerity whatever you want to call it, win him his third Masters from the pine straws at 13th's second shot. That's who he is, and if he's not that, he's a gambler. As we all know, he's not a good one consistently. That's his whole freakin' life right there. At least he's living it on his terms, and BTW, I hate LIV.
