After missing the cut for the first time at a major since 1999, Mickelson's dream of winning his national championship is on hold for another year. Betrayed by an inflamed left wrist and by some of the thickest rough ever seen on a golf course, he wasn't leaving Oakmont without having his say.

Even though the likes of Stephen Ames and former Masters champion Mike Weir agreed that someone could do himself a serious mischief trying to escape from the rough, Mickelson's injury occurred during practice sessions at the course last month.

"I'm going to have to change my preparation, " he explained later. "This really was dangerous, doing what I did because the rough was twice as long when I was practising, and I thought they might play it like that. Certainly, with this liquid fertiliser and these new machines that make the grass suck straight up, it's dangerous, it really is."

Perhaps Mickelson, Ames and Weir have failed to realise that for this championship anyway, blasting out of the heavy rough is not an option.

An errant shot here is as good as a penalty, and players should be trying just to chip the ball back on the fairway.

Now that Mickelson has matured into a three-time major winner, and now that he has become 'Phil' to the game's public, there is a perception that his every word is a word of wisdom. This past week, he moaned that all 18 greens weren't running at the same speed and he moaned about the injurious rough.

Perhaps he should have removed the wrist bandage and put it over his mouth.

And perhaps, he should have done the sensible thing and quit after the first round.

It was patently obvious as he frequently removed his left hand from the club at impact, that he was far from fit. Trying to survive at the quintessential US Open venue with an injured wrist is tantamount to lining up for the Olympic 100 metres final with a damaged hamstring. It was no act of courage.

If he was keen on avoiding further injury, he should've accepted defeat. Last year, he called himself an idiot following his infamous meltdown at Winged Foot's finishing hole, but this time he has just been idiotic.

On Friday evening when Cabrera sank a birdie putt at his final hole to reduce the cut to 10 over par, he was asked what it felt like to have knocked Mickelson out of the championship. "I didn't, " replied the Argentinian.

"Mickelson knocked himself out."

He was right in more ways than one.