Drexel's Crawford calls first Open experience 'spectacular'

OAKMONT, Pa. - Chris Crawford was disappointed with his ball-striking at the U.S. Open. Any mistakes he made at Oakmont Country Club were not forgiven.

But the fact that the amateur from Bensalem and Drexel shot a pair of 6-over-par 76s to miss the 36-hole cut in his first national championship did not take away from the sheer excitement of being here.

"It was just spectacular," Crawford, one of 11 amateurs in the field, said Saturday after finishing his second round shortly before 9 a.m. "From Day 1, I had an awesome time all week being here. The practice rounds were a lot of fun. We had great weather. Even Thursday didn't bother me too bad with the weather. Yeah, I just really enjoyed it. It was really special."

Crawford wasn't happy with his statistics in his two rounds. He hit just 11 fairways and 15 greens in regulation on the two days and attempted 60 putts. He had two birdies in his first round on Friday but none in his second round, when he suffered four straight bogeys from holes nine through 12.

"People make a big deal out of the rough," he said, "but it's really the bunkers that kill you out here. If you miss the fairway, you're going to be in a pot bunker and you're just pitching out sideways. I just didn't hit the ball well enough to score very well.

"Once you get out there, you still feel like you can play well. Obviously it's a really hard and really penalizing golf course. You hit a bad shot . . . actually if you hit a good shot, you can end up bad, and if you hit a slightly bad shot, you can end up terrible.

"So that's just the way the golf course is, and that's fine. It's a U.S. Open, and you've got to put the ball in the fairway, everyone knows that. I just didn't do it enough. Was it disappointing? Yes, but I still had a great week."

Crawford, a Holy Ghost Prep graduate, might have had his highlight and lowlight on the same day, Tuesday, when he played a practice round with Jason Day, the No. 1 player in the world, and saw his own caddie, Bill Henaghan, suffer a broken ankle and torn ligaments when he fell into a bunker.

Crawford said he saw Henaghan at the course on Friday, sitting in the grandstand, and said: "He's doing fine, he's in good spirits as always."

Crawford said he hopes his U.S. Open experience can propel him to success this summer. He will play in the Philadelphia Open and the Golf Association of Philadelphia's Patterson Cup, and looks forward to getting invitations to national amateur events. He is exempt for the U.S. Amateur.

"I'm hoping this will carry through for a good summer," he said. "Hopefully this will be a nice start. It's only going to get easier from here, right?"

Defending champion Jordan Spieth appeared ready to make a move with three straight birdies early in the third round, but a double bogey on his 11th hole blunted any run, leaving him in a tie for 29th at 214.

"Got off to a dream start for moving day, then kind of put a bad swing on a pretty stock [wedge] shot that killed momentum, and I went double bogey-bogey," he said. "I played three holes at 4-over today with a wedge in my hand from the middle of the fairway, and it's just kind of a bummer."

Phil Mickelson, a six-time runner-up in the Open, shot one stroke too many to make the cut, with a 73 leaving him at 7-over 147.

Mickelson, 46, who came back Saturday morning for three holes after playing 33 holes on Friday, made just one birdie in his last 28 holes.

"I actually thought I played really well, except I let four or five par putts kind of slide," he said. "You can't do that here because you don't have those birdie opportunities to offset … those mistakes. I didn't have very many birdie opportunities."

Mickelson wasn't the only big name to miss the cut of 146. Rory McIlroy was 4-under for his second round after seven holes and looked ready to put himself into position for the weekend, but went 5-over for the final 11 holes, shot 71, and finished at 148.