Not for a moment do I regret my decision to play the US Open. I may have missed the cut in what turned out to be an extremely difficult draw for those playing the morning groups in the opening round, but I have surely come out a much wiser man from the experience.

As I have written before, I played despite an injury to my intercostal muscles. The only reason I risked further injury was because it was a Major championship, and I did not want to let go the opportunity. I was playing well and thought that if I could play without trying and hoping for too much, I might be able to post a good result.

But once the rain started at Bethpage Black, I was always at a disadvantage. The ribs hurted the most when I was hitting my driver, and because I was not releasing the club properly, I kept spraying my tee shots. And once you missed the fairways, the rough was so thick that there was no chance I could have even tried going for the greens from there.

And on top of it, just when I was making a comeback on the second day playing the back nine of my first round, I made a disastrous triple bogey from the greenside bunker on the 12th hole, which effectively killed all my chances of making the cut.

In the end, I finished at 11-over, and I was actually proud of my second round of three-over 73. It was again raining for most part of our round, and I thought I fought pretty well despite my handicap.

The lesson I have learnt is that I am not going to risk further aggravating an injury and will tee up for the Majors only when I am 100 per cent fit. I have promised myself I am not going to tee up, even if the tournament happens to be the Masters. There is no point of playing these big tournaments if you are not fully fit. The courses are set up in such a manner that they are going to magnify your weaknesses.

I am spending a week at my hometown Chandigarh, having pulled out of this week's BMW International in Munich. Hopefully, the injury would have subsided by the Thursday of the French Open week. I enjoy playing at the Le Golf National course in Paris and would like a good finish there to build a momentum towards next month's Open Championship at Turnberry.

The US Open, which was extended to a Monday finish, witnessed yet another thrilling finish. Lucas Glover was a deserving winner, even though I must add that he had the distinct advantage of playing his first and second rounds in much better conditions. Lucas has always been considered a huge potential and he has now lived up to the expectations by winning his National Open.

It was fantastic to see David Duval, one of my favourite golfers, come out of his slump in such brilliant fashion. A tied second place finish will do a world of good for his confidence and I won't be surprised to see him do well on the PGA Tour in the coming weeks.

Phil Mickelson's was almost a fairy-tale ending, but he had to be content with his fifth runners-up finish in the US Open. His connection with the New York crowd, who cheered him every minute of the tournament, was amazing.

Finally, the fact that Tiger Woods finished sixth tells something about the man. At the receiving end of Mother Nature's fury, I thought he did extremely well to be one of only two players from Thursday's morning groups to finish in the top-10 - the other player being Henrik Stenson.