2006 U.S. Open

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2006 U.S. Open

Tournament information
Dates	June 15–18, 2006
Location	Mamaroneck, New York
Course(s)	Winged Foot Golf Club, West Course
Tour(s)	PGA Tour European Tour Japan Golf Tour
Statistics
Par	70
Length	7,264
Field	156 players, 63 after cut
Cut	149 (+9)
Prize fund	$6,250,000
Winner's share	$1,225,000
Champion
Geoff Ogilvy
285 (+5)

The 2006 United States Open Championship was the 106th U.S. Open, played from June 15 to June 18 at Winged Foot Golf Club West Course.^[1] The U.S. Open returned to Winged Foot for the first time since 1984 when Fuzzy Zoeller captured his second and final major championship. Geoff Ogilvy won his first career major in one of the wildest finishes in U.S. Open history. He made gutsy pars on the final two holes including a chip in from off the green on 17. Jim Furyk, Colin Montgomerie, and Phil Mickelson all failed to par the 72nd hole giving Ogilvy an unlikely one shot victory. Mickelson, looking for his third straight major championship, double bogeyed the final hole after failing to hit the 18th fairway. Colin Montgomerie double bogeyed the same hole when his second shot ended up in the rough and he three-putted, and Jim Furyk missed a 5-footer for par at the final hole. The event took place in Mamaroneck, New York, The purse was $6.25 million and Ogilvy earned $1.225 million.

History of the U.S. Open at Winged Foot

The 2006 U.S. Open Golf Championship was the fifth U.S. Open at Winged Foot and the 6th major championship (1997 PGA Championship won by Davis Love III). Former champions include: Bobby Jones (1929), Billy Casper (1959), Hale Irwin (1974), and Fuzzy Zoeller (1984). 1974's U.S. Open was known as "The Massacre at Winged Foot" as Irwin won with a seven over par 287. Over the four days, just seven sub-par rounds were recorded. Not a single golfer broke par following the first round, leading to complaints to the USGA that the set-up had gone too far. In the years following World War II, only Julius Boros’ 9-over total in 1963 had been a higher winning score.

Field

1. Last 10 U.S. Open Champions
Michael Campbell (8, 10), Ernie Els (4,8), Jim Furyk (9), Retief Goosen (8,9,10), Lee Janzen, Steve Jones, Tiger Woods (3,4,8,9,12)

2. Top two finishers in the 2005 U.S. Amateur
Dillon Dougherty (a), Edoardo Molinari (a)

3. Last five Masters Champions
Phil Mickelson (5,9,12), Mike Weir

4. Last five British Open Champions
Ben Curtis, David Duval, Todd Hamilton

5. Last five PGA Champions
Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel, Vijay Singh (8,9), David Toms (8,9)

6. The Players Champion
Stephen Ames (9,11,12,17)

7. The U.S. Senior Open Champion
Allen Doyle

8. Top 15 finishers and ties in the 2005 U.S. Open
K. J. Choi, Stewart Cink, Tim Clark (9), John Cook, Fred Couples, Bob Estes, Sergio García (9,10), Peter Hedblom, Mark Hensby, Ryuji Imada, Peter Jacobsen, Davis Love III (9), Rocco Mediate, Aaron Oberholser, Corey Pavin, Nick Price

9. Top 30 leaders on the 2005 PGA Tour official money list
Stuart Appleby, Olin Browne, Bart Bryant, Mark Calcavecchia, Chad Campbell, Ben Crane, Chris DiMarco, Luke Donald (10), Fred Funk, Lucas Glover, Pádraig Harrington, Tim Herron, Charles Howell III, Brandt Jobe, Justin Leonard, Sean O'Hair, Kenny Perry, Ted Purdy, Adam Scott (15), Scott Verplank

10. Top 15 on the 2005 European Tour Order of Merit
Thomas Bjørn, Ángel Cabrera, Nick Dougherty, Niclas Fasth, Kenneth Ferrie, David Howell, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Paul McGinley, Colin Montgomerie, José María Olazábal, Henrik Stenson

11. Top 10 on the PGA Tour official money list, as of May 29
Geoff Ogilvy, Rory Sabbatini

12. Winners of multiple PGA Tour events from April 23 2005 through the 2006 Memorial Tournament
Carl Pettersson

13. Top 2 from the 2006 European Tour Order of Merit, as of May 26
Paul Casey

14. Top 2 on the 2005 Japan Golf Tour official money list, provided they are within the top 75 point leaders of the Official World Golf Rankings at that time
Shingo Katayama

15. Top 2 on the 2005 PGA Tour of Australasia official money list, provided they are within the top 75 point leaders of the Official World Golf Rankings at that time
Nick O'Hern

16. Top 50 on the Official World Golf Rankings list, as of May 30
Robert Allenby, Darren Clarke, Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson, Tom Lehman, Rod Pampling

17. Special exemptions selected by the USGA
None

Sectional qualifiers
Japan: Keiichiro Fukabori, Tadahiro Takayama, Toru Taniguchi; Europe: Phillip Archer, Richard Green, Maarten Lafeber, Graeme McDowell, Jyoti Randhawa, Jeev Milkha Singh, Graeme Storm, Oliver Wilson; USA: Tommy Armour III, Woody Austin, Craig Barlow, David Berganio, Jr., Mark Brooks, Chad Collins, Jay Delsing, Stephen Gangluff, Mathew Goggin, Nathan Green, Jay Haas, Scott Hend, J. J. Henry, Charley Hoffman, J. B. Holmes, Kent Jones, Skip Kendall, Greg Kraft, Matt Kuchar, Steve Lowery, John Mallinger, Jonathan Moore (a), Chris Nallen, Tom Pernice, Jr., Ian Poulter, Brett Quigley, Tag Ridings, John Rollins, Charl Schwartzel, Joey Sindelar, Jeff Sluman, Kevin Stadler, Steve Stricker, Phil Tataurangi, D. J. Trahan, Bo Van Pelt, Camilo Villegas, Duffy Waldorf, Dean Wilson

Local and sectional qualifiers
USA: Jason Allred, Ryan Baca (a), Andy Bare, Alex Coe (a), Michael Derminio, Jason Dufner, Brad Fritsch, Tadd Fujikawa (a), Michael Harris, Travis Hurst, Benjamin Hayes, Billy Horschel (a), Rob Johnson, John Koskinen, George McNeill, Andrew Morse, Madalitso Muthiya, Patrick Nagle (a), David Oh, Ryan Posey (a), Andrew Svoboda, Nicholas Thompson, Dustin White, Lee Williams, Taylor Wood, Stephen Woodard

Round-by-round summary

First round (Thursday)

Colin Montgomerie shot 69 and was the only player to shoot under par in the opening round. Phil Mickelson, the winner of the last two majors, is just one shot back. Former U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk is also just one shot back. Seven shots back is Tiger Woods who shot a six over 76 in his first major since his father's death. It was his worst start ever in a major.

#	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	69	-1
T2	Phil Mickelson	United States	70	E
	Steve Stricker	United States
	Miguel Ángel Jiménez	Spain
	David Howell	England
	Jim Furyk	United States
T7	John Cook	United States	71	+1
	Kenneth Ferrie	England
	Fred Funk	United States
	Graeme McDowell	Northern Ireland
	Geoff Ogilvy	Australia
	Vijay Singh	Fiji
	Mike Weir	Canada

Second round (Friday)

Steve Stricker leads at a major for the first time since 1998 after firing a one under 69. He is the only player under par entering the weekend and is one shot clear of Colin Montgomerie. Tiger Woods missed the cut at a major as a professional for the first time, ending his record-tying streak of 39 consecutive cuts made at majors. Woods shot 76 for the second consecutive day missing the cut by three shots. Phil Mickelson struggled throughout the day shooting 73 which put him four shots back entering the weekend. The best rounds of the day belonged to Arron Oberholser and David Duval who both shot 68. It was the first cut Duval had made at a major since the 2002 PGA Championship. Other notable players missing the cut included Sergio García, Retief Goosen, 1997 PGA Championship winner at Winged Foot Davis Love III, and defending U.S. Open Champion Michael Campbell.

#	Player	Country	Score	To par
1	Steve Stricker	United States	70-69=139	-1
2	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	69-71=140	E
T3	Geoff Ogilvy	Australia	71-70=141	+1
	Kenneth Ferrie	England	71-70=141
T5	Jim Furyk	United States	70-72=142	+2
	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	70-72=142
T7	Jason Dufner	United States	72-71=143	+3
	Graeme McDowell	Northern Ireland	71-72=143
	Phil Mickelson	United States	70-73=143
	Arron Oberholser	United States	75-68=143

Amateurs: Coe (+10), Horschel (+12), Molinari (+13), Moore (+15), Nagle (+16), Fujikawa (+18), Dougherty (+20), Baca (+21), Posey (+22).

Third round (Saturday)

Phil Mickelson leads going into the final round after firing a one under 69. He is tied with Kenneth Ferrie who bogeyed the 18th to shoot a one over 71. Geoff Ogilvy made two straight bogeys on the back, finishing with a two over 72 that left him one shot out of the lead. Steve Stricker lead through much of the front nine but ended up firing a six over 76 putting him one shot out of the lead. Pádraig Harrington needed a birdie to catch Mickelson on the 18th hole but made triple bogey. He barely made contact out of the deep rough, moving the ball 15 yards into the fairway. Once he got out of a greenside bunker, he three-putted for a triple bogey that sent him to a disappointing four over 74.

#	Player	Country	Score	To par
T1	Kenneth Ferrie	England	71-70-71=212	+2
	Phil Mickelson	United States	70-73-69=212
3	Geoff Ogilvy	Australia	71-70-72=213	+3
T4	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	69-71-75=215	+5
	Ian Poulter	England	74-71-70=215
	Vijay Singh	Fiji	71-74-70=215
	Steve Stricker	United States	70-69-76=215
T8	Jim Furyk	United States	70-72-74=216	+6
	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	73-69-74=216
	Mike Weir	Canada	71-74-71=216

Final round (Sunday)

In one of the most exciting final rounds in U.S. Open history Geoff Ogilvy survived a brutal final day winning his first major championship. Ogilvy led by two strokes in the middle of the round, only to give away his lead with four bogeys in seven holes. But Ogilvy finished his round with a champion's flourish, making improbable pars on each of the last two holes. He holed a 30-foot chip shot at the 17th, and then got up-and-down for par at the 18th, dropping a downhill six-footer for his final stroke as all his competitors collapsed around him. Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie needed pars on the final hole to win, or bogeys to tie with Ogilvy, but they ruined their chances by producing double-bogey sixes to give Ogilvy a dramatic win. He became the first Australian to win a major since Steve Elkington in the 1995 PGA Championship.

Montgomerie holed a 75-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole for a share of the lead and was in the middle of the 18th fairway, 172 yards from the hole, in prime position to do no worse than a playoff. After much club deliberation he missed well to the right and ended up three putting for double bogey. Mickelson entered the last hole needing par to win and bogey to force a playoff but could not finish off what would have been his third consecutive major championship victory. Mickelson's tee shot on the 18th went so far left that it clattered through the trees by a hospitality tent. He went for the green with his second shot but hit a tree, and the ball advanced just 25 yards. He ended up in the bunker on the next shot and could not get up and down to tie. Mickelson tied Sam Snead for the most second-place finishes by a player who has never won the U.S. Open, with four. Jim Furyk needed par to force a playoff but bogeyed the final hole after missing a five foot par putt. Pádraig Harrington bogeyed the final three holes and finished two strokes behind. Five different players held the lead at one point on Sunday with 15 different lead changes between them.

#	Player	Country	Score	To par	Winnings
1	Geoff Ogilvy	Australia	71-70-72-72=285	+5	$1,225,000
T2	Phil Mickelson	United States	70-73-69-74=286	+6	$501,249
	Colin Montgomerie	Scotland	69-71-75-71=286
	Jim Furyk	United States	70-72-74-70=286
5	Pádraig Harrington	Ireland	73-69-74-71=287	+7	$255,642
T6	Kenneth Ferrie	England	71-70-71-76=288	+8	$183,255
	Nick O'Hern	Australia	75-70-74-69=288
	Vijay Singh	Fiji	71-74-70-73=288
	Steve Stricker	United States	70-69-76-73=288
	Jeff Sluman	United States	74-73-72-69=288
	Mike Weir	Canada	71-74-71-72=288

Quotes

"I still am in shock that I did that. I just can't believe that I did that. I am such an idiot." - Phil Mickelson after double bogeying the 18th hole.

"The biggest reason why this is so disappointing is that this is a tournament that I dreamt of winning as a kid. I spent hours practicing, countless hours practicing, dreaming of winning this tournament. I came out here months in advance to get ready and had it right there in my hand, man. It was right there and I let it go." - Phil Mickelson on losing the U.S. Open.

"I think I was the beneficiary of a little bit of charity." - Geoff Ogilvy after watching from the club house as Furyk, Mickelson and Montgomerie all couldn't make par on the 18th hole.

"I'm disappointed. I played my heart out and it didn't work." - Jim Furyk after runner up finish.

"I switched from a 6 to a 7. I thought adrenaline would kick in. I usually hit the ball 10 yards further in that circumstance. I caught it slightly heavy and it went slightly right. It was a poor shot, no question about that, and I put myself into poor position." - Colin Montgomerie on club selection on final hole.

References

External links

• 2006 U.S. Open Official Site
• Official Winged Foot website
• ESPN Coverage