Oakmont Diary

Today's other news in brief

Lefty's lament

The wounds of last year's calamity on the final hole at Winged Foot have healed, but Phil Mickelson has other problems to contend with as he heads into his quest to claim the US Open. Despite a meticulous campaign of preparation, Lefty's build-up has been severely hampered by a wrist injury.

Yes, Mickelson will play, with a brace around his left wrist, but he would have preferred another week's rest and treatment to ease the inflammation.

"I've got a really good game plan mapped out for the tournament. I'm just not sure if I'm going to be ready to implement it because I haven't had the normal practice and preparation that I would have going into a major," he admitted. "It's certainly not the way I wanted to be coming into this tournament."

Mickelson, who has yet to win a US Open and who famously blew his chance at Winged Foot when he held a one-shot lead standing on the 18th tee, only to drive into the trees on his way to a double-bogey, has been undergoing intensive treatment. He has even been banned from signing autographs.

At least he managed to play nine holes yesterday, but sensibly refused to play any shots out of the five-inch rough. "It's important to drive the ball well here and that's going to be the biggest challenge for me. I haven't been able to practice it or go at it with 100 per cent confidence that it's not going to flare up again. It shouldn't be a problem, as long as I don't aggravate the inflammation, and this unfortunately is not the best week for that, given my driving history," said Mickelson, at least revealing a light side to his persona.

He added: "I'm trying not to go in with too many expectations as far as how I finish. I want Thursday to start and to go on to Sunday improving my ball-striking without aggravating my wrist anymore, and that hopefully I can implement the game plan that I've developed the last couple of weeks with (short-game coach) Dave Pelz."

Practice can be perfect

The good thing about practice rounds is that you don't have to play the ball where it lands. A case in point came when Sergio Garcia pulled his drive on the fourth and found the infamous Church Pews bunker. Rather than play the ball as it lay, the Spaniard dropped a ball in the middle of the fairway. Why? "I felt like hitting off the fairway, that's the neat thing about practice rounds."

All bets are off

Bar stool bets can lead to unpleasant duties, which American professional Jacob Rogers can certainly relate to.

Rogers, 1,000 to 1 for the US Open, who came through qualifying, fancies himself as something of a basketball pundit and made a spread bet with an unnamed English player while they were watching the NBA finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night.

Rogers lost.

But rather than part with money, his penance for losing the bet was to wear an English football jersey all day yesterday . . . which led to quite a number of people around the putting green behind the ninth hole yesterday wondering just who the David Beckham lookalike was.