You want tough? Just send in the USGA and the whining begins

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) -The area between the clubhouse and the golf shop at Oakmont Country Club was meant to be a place where players can meet family, drop off caddies, maybe swap a tale or two.

The people who run the U.S. Open tried their best to do everything to make players happy there, just like they do their best to make them squirm everywhere else. It's a genteel place, underneath tall trees with an adjoining dining area for wives, girlfriends and personal psychologists.

Just a few steps away there's a parking lot loaded with Lexus GS450s to ease the drive home.

Life is good for the privileged few who get rich playing golf. Volunteers part crowds for them, bring them food and water and pretty much cater to their every whim.

They can't possibly have anything to complain about.

On Friday, it was about all they did.

"It's dangerous, it really is," Phil Mickelson said.

Mickelson wasn't talking about the drive across the Allegheny River, or the flight home in his private jet.

The Oakmont rough was his big worry, though the slick greens also gave him fits on this day. He wasn't happy about liquid fertilizer, either, or new machines that suck the grass up so the ball sits down in the rough.

Mickelson won't have to worry anymore because he didn't make the cut. But Lefty wasn't alone.

As the first wave of casualties arrived off the 18th green, the patio area was filled with furtive glances, embarrassed expressions and players who looked like they wanted to rip the numbers off the scoreboards held aloft by the standard bearers.

Some gathered outside to commiserate, though they didn't stay long. There were other places they would rather be, other things they would rather be doing.

"Ready to start drinking?" one said to another after signing his scorecard.