What they said after the final round of the U.S. Open

San Francisco, CA – One of these times will be the charm for Phil Mickelson. It wasn't the first or second or third or sixth for that matter.

The four-time major champion again failed to win the U.S. Open. He finished second for a record sixth time.

He was more upset about his two double bogeys as opposed to his two late bogeys.

"I just would have been very happy with bogeys on three and five. Those are tough holes, and those were costly doubles," Mickelson admitted. "But I hung tough. And waited until I got some birdie holes, and ended up getting lucky with the hole-out on 10 and getting back into it."

Mickelson fought back with a hole-out eagle from 75 yards out on No. 10, but again he couldn't get over that final hurdle.

- WEBB SIMPSON, the 2012 champion was pretty blunt about his title defense: "I did what I thought I needed to do except I didn't make any putts."

- TIGER WOODS, when asked if he thinks the U.S. Open will come back to Merion: "I'm sure it will come back. Obviously, there are some vendors that are going to make more money with hospitality and that nature. But I think that overall as a golf course, yes, it can be played. They move the tees back, and they give us some pretty tough pins this week. But certainly as a golf course wise, it could definitely host another major championship. But I don't know if USGA wants to, they make a lot of money on other venues."

- SHAWN STEFANI, who had the first hole-in-one in U.S. Open history at Merion on Sunday, and he kissed the rough, where his ball landed: "We're in Philly. There's some great fans up here and I know they can be tough on you and they can love you forever. So I'm sure they appreciated me going to the ground and kissing it, because obviously the ground is where the kick started and the ball kicking right and going on the green."

- SERGIO GARCIA, on the condition of Merion Golf Club's East Course: "I think that you can set up any course difficult if you want to. When the rough is as high as it is and a little bit of breeze that we have had, the greens played soft, but you still had to hit good shots. And by playing soft, the rough was much thicker. When it dries up, it's a little bit easier to get a club through the grass. But when it's as lush as it was this week, obviously it makes it much tougher."

- RORY MCILROY, was among those that hopes the Open comes back to Merion: "It was great. I thought it was a really good test. I thought the atmosphere out there obviously when you're in a group like I was the first two days, it's going to be great anywhere. I enjoyed the week. Regardless of not playing my best. I thought it was a great venue and a venue that hopefully we come back to."

- ERNIE ELS, the British Open champion echoed McIlroy's statement that the Open should come back to Merion: "Absolutely. It's been an unbelievable venue this week. The course definitely held up. Started the week with people saying there could be record scores. I totally disagreed with that. It was a great setup. The rough was tough. Yeah, everything about it was just wonderful. And the fans were unbelievable. It definitely shouldn't wait another 32 years."