by Jeff Skinner
It’s 2006 and the U.S. Open had come to historic Winged Foot Country Club in Westchester County, New York. Since Winged Foot is only forty five minutes from my house I had a chance to spend all week there from practice days to Sunday’s final round.
Early in the week during a practice round I was at wandering around watching the best players in the world try and figure out one of the toughest courses in the U.S. Open rotation. I came upon a few fans standing near a deep greenside bunker with a player hitting ball after ball trying to get a feel for this difficult shot. 
The Open just doesn’t bring out golf fans it brings out the partiers who just want to say they have been there. As I watched the action in the bunker I overheard a few fans talking about the player in the bunker, “Look, that’s Vijay Singh…that’s Vijay Singh.” One of them turned and asked me to confirm that it was Singh. I was probably shaking my head as I said no, “That’s Michael Campbell…the defending champion.” So much for his big win at Pinehurst.
Later that week during regular play I was at the same difficult bunker and my son and I watched as Sergio Garcia dumped his ball in the sand. As Sergio surveyed his difficult task of carrying the ball over the deep rough and onto the green I cheered him on with a “Come on Sergio, put it in” hoping for a hole out. He responded with a “put it in where?” He knew it was a tough shot and seconds later we watched as he flubbed his shot and the ball landed short of the green and disappeared into the ankle deep rough. He was exasperated and all I could do was cringe.
On Sunday I spent plenty of time on the back nine and watched as all the leaders came through. We were there at the seventeenth when eventual winner Geoff Ogilvy chipped in for par from behind the green. It turned out to be the shot that won the Open.
When Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie came through the eighteenth which had limited viewing areas and was already jammed so we headed to the Trophy Club to watch the finish in air conditioned comfort.
We all know that Phil bounced his tee shot on eighteen off the tent but what few realize is that Vijay, who was in contention at the time, had done the same thing. We hurried past Singh as he tried to recover from his wayward shot and he managed to par the hole. Somewhere, I bet a fan was calling him Michael Campbell.
From the comfy confines of the Trophy Club we watched as Jim Furyk bogeyed the last as did Colin Montgomerie who missed the green with a seven iron and took a double bogey. And then of course Phil pulled his bonehead move of trying to hit the green from an impossible spot and took double bogey. All he needed to do was recover with a bogey and he would have gone to a playoff with Ogilvy.
But that’s not Phil…he went for it and lost. It prompted that famous or infamous line from Phil, “I still am in shock that I did that. I just can’t believe that I did that. I am such an idiot.” When you are right you are right, he was an idiot.
Consider this: Ogilvy won this championship by closing with four straight pars with a total of five over par. None of the other leaders could come close to that.
It was a tough week at Winged Foot: Michael Campbell couldn’t defend and missed the cut as did Sergio Garcia. Vijay Singh, the real one finished T6. Monty, Furyk and Phil all finished tied for second. Over the years Ogilvy’s first and only major has become more famous for Phil’s final hole meltdown. It was another runner up finish for Lefty that now totals six.
This year as Phil chases his elusive U.S. Open Championship I’ll be there again on Sunday and maybe, just maybe Phil will get it done and finally erase that painful memory of that brutal Sunday at Winged Foot.
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