Big Three rue their missed opportunities

Somehow, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els -- a Hall of Fame-bound trio with 21 combined majors – couldn't win a U.S. Open that was there for the taking. Els had nothing to say. Mickelson tried to laugh. And Tiger? His body language said it all.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- The guys we figured could handle Sunday at a U.S. Open simply didn’t.

Maybe it was Pebble Beach. Maybe it wasn’t.

The bottom line is that somehow Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els -- a Hall of Fame-bound trio with a combined 21 majors -- came up short. Even par would have gotten them in a playoff. Under par would have won this 110th U.S. Open.

They knew that going in. That’s experience. They expected the bumps and bruises would start knocking people off the leaderboard. They knew the wind would cause chaos, tossing shots into uncharted territory. They figured the poa would rise up and they’d be putting on peanut brittle coming in.

They swore they’d keep the ball below the hole and make the best of whatever this Open threw at them.

By the end of the day, they simply wanted to swear.

A pair of 73s for Mickelson and Els. A closing 75 for Woods, who was outplayed by runner-up Gregory Havret.  A U.S. Open trophy for Graeme McDowell.

Els left skidmarks when he exited the scoring trailer. No comments. No nothing.

Mickelson tried to laugh. At least, he said, he didn’t finish second again. Try sharing fourth with Woods.

And Woods? His body language said it all. Three critical mistakes.  No U.S. Open.

What does he take away from this?

“Not a whole lot,” said the man who was looking for major No. 15. “I made … I was telling Steve (Williams, his caddie) we made three mental mistakes today. The only thing it cost us was chance to win the U.S. Open.”

Get his drift?

No knock on McDowell. In fact, both Woods and Mickelson had good things to say about the Northern Irishman who became the first European in 40 years to win the U.S. Open. He stood up under the pressure. He outplayed the field.

He made the most of his chances. They didn’t.

When leader Dustin Johnson stumbled at the start -- he dropped seven shots total on the second, third and fourth holes -- the field knew it was game on.

Especially the Big Three. Yes, McDowell still had a lead. But those three were hanging right there at even par -- Els even got to 3 under with a birdie at the sixth hole and shared the lead with McDowell. For a minute. Not even long enough for a cup of coffee.

He was still right there at the turn -- despite a bogey at the ninth -- but disaster hit at the 10th when his drive went over a cliff and he climbed down to search for it. He wound up taking a drop and a double bogey, then bogeyed the next hole.

Four shots gone in three holes. That’s supposed to happen to the field, not to a two-time U.S. Open champion.

Woods could relate. And point to three holes -- the third, 10th and 12th. A par and two bogeys. Enough mistakes to cost him a fourth Open and a 15th major.

At the third he wound up in the deep rough, but found an opening, muscled the ball out and parred. At 10, he went right -- and into a hazard.

“I didn't know the wind was down,” he said. “I thought it was more a crest and that brought the right side into play. I fired at the pin on 10. Steve said take dead aim right at it, and in my heart I said no. There was no chance. I have a sand wedge in my hand, and I can't play at that flag. You land the ball on the green. It will go past the flags.

“I had a 10-, 15-footer after that because I aimed at Greg's ball,” he explained. “I went against my own -- I know things and hit the ball to the right and then hit the wrong club on 12. My instincts were telling me to hit a five, play it to the right, just draw it in there, and we thought four would be better, hold it up against the wind and I made just an awful swing.”

As for the rest of the day? Havret, ranked 391st in the world, put the ball in the right spots all day. Woods didn’t.

It was a 180 from Saturday afternoon, when Woods played a ridiculously marvelous round and shot 66. Everything fell into place. The process was working. Did anyone dare think that this might be the Sunday he finally won a major from behind?

He did. Even when he started off so-so. He dove into a hole Saturday, too, and dug himself out. Not this time.

“Every putt I missed was from above the hole,” he said. “Yesterday I made everything because it was all below the hole.  These greens are bumpy enough where putts above the holes it's just pot luck. But below the hole it takes a lot of that break out, and the putts I had today that were below the hole I made them.”

The course, Woods said, beats you into being aggressive. And when that happens, well, anything can happen.

Just ask Mickelson, the lone member of the Big Three without an Open and with four runner-up medals. He birdied the first hole to get to even for the tournament and plodded through the front nine. He bogeyed the 10th, then the 14th with a 12-foot par putt that, well, summed up the day.

“I don't know if there was a camera behind me, I don't know if it got a good shot of my putt or not from a low angle, but it was interesting to see the route it took,” he said. “Well, it wiggled left the first few feet, and then it wiggled right and was going right in the middle and then it wiggled left, right at the hole and went over the edge and I thought that it -- I thought it was going to snake in there and it just didn't quite do it.”

But the real frustration for him was all those front-nine pars, where he felt he could have made up some shots.

“Other than the first six or seven holes, it just wasn't there,” said Mickelson, whose magic faded on the weekend after a Friday 66. “It got progressively tougher, the pins placements got progressively more difficult.  And there just wasn't the opportunities really for birdie.”

Someone asked what it was about Pebble that kept scores high in a week where three players shot 66s.

“I'm not really sure,” Mickelson said, catching himself. “I kind of know, but I would rather not get into it.  It just doesn't sound good.  I mean it was just tough.  It was a tough day on the golf course.”

Tough enough to take away a chance for him to start a MickelSlam. Tough enough for Woods to wonder if the process will be complete in three weeks at St. Andrews.

“I feel like I put some pieces together this week,” Woods said. “It's a process.  It's a long process, but I've put some of it together, and I hit some shots this week that I haven't hit in a long time.

“I feel like I can play now,” he added. “I’ve got a feel for my game, my shape of my shots, what I'm working on, and the two Major Championships I finished I had a chance to win both of them.  So it's not too bad.”

Not too bad at all.

Next up is St. Andrews. The other Open. Woods has won three of those -- two at St. Andrews -- and Els had one. Like this Open, Mickelson has none.

Expect an interesting week. And expect the Big Three to be right there.

Maybe that week, one of them will make the most of his chances.