Make no mistake, Angel Cabrera is not chiseled like Tiger Woods. He smokes cigarettes, doesn't go into a gym, and looks more like a meat-store owner from Blawnox.

What's more, Cabrera is not a rising star on the PGA Tour. In fact, he rarely plays on the PGA Tour. He is 37, plays mainly in Europe and his native Argentina, and is ready to make the turn on to the back nine of his career. He is not, after all, Aaron Baddeley, who is 26 and on the verge of stardom.

This was not what Oakmont Country Club had in mind when the final round began yesterday in the 107th U.S. Open. This was not what the membership thought would happen when the final twosome of the day, Woods and Baddeley, teed off in a baking sun at 3 p.m., the club's rich history awaiting another champion.

Oakmont was looking for someone to stand alongside Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan and Jack Nicklaus, arguably the three greatest golfers of all time. Each of them had won major championships at Oakmont -- Jones in the 1927 U.S. Amateur, Hogan in the 1953 U.S. Open and Nicklaus in the '62 Open.

There was no better candidate than Woods, who had never before played a competitive round at Oakmont. He is the world's No. 1 player and the greatest player of his generation, perhaps ever.

But, when his 6-foot birdie putt at No. 13 wouldn't turn left into the cup, when his greenside bunker shot at No. 17 wouldn't stay up on the slippery surface, when his tee shot at No. 18 bounced crazily into the right cut, Woods could hear the disappointment oozing from the green-and-white clubhouse that serves as the signature of Oakmont's proud heritage.

Then there was Baddeley, a player ready for a breakthrough.

Oakmont would have embraced him, too. He is two years older than when Ernie Els won his first major in 1994, three years older than when Johnny Miller won his first major in 1973, four years older than when Nicklaus beat Arnold Palmer in an 18-hole playoff to win his first major in 1962.

Those were players who used Oakmont as a springboard to their careers, none greater than Nicklaus, who went on to win 17 more majors after his classic showdown with Palmer.

Baddeley, with two PGA Tour victories and no majors, could have been another.

That, though, didn't last very long, either.

At the first hole, after pushing his tee shot into the right rough and leaving his approach short, Baddeley pitched his third shot off the green, chipped 10 feet short of the hole and three-putted for triple bogey. He never recovered.

In the parlance of his father, Ron, who was chief mechanic for Mario Andretti's racing team, Baddeley blew an engine on the first turn of the Indy 500.

He shot 80 and finished at 12-over 292, further than a Cabrera drive from the lead.

In the end, Oakmont gets Cabrera, which isn't even the same as getting Larry Nelson.

Nelson was the giant-killer in 1983, beating Tom Watson, a player who would finish his career with eight major championships. Oakmont would have loved to list Watson among its champions, too, just as it would Palmer, but it never happened.

Nelson put an end to that, and he did it with a 62-foot birdie putt at No. 16 in the final round, the final stake in a one-shot victory over Watson.

But remember this about Nelson: Among his 10 PGA Tour victories, three were major championships. The others were the 1981 and 1987 PGA championships. Still, for all his accomplishments, Nelson might be the most overlooked three-time major winner in golf history.

Which brings us to Cabrera.

He did not do anything spectacular to win the U.S. Open, unless you count a 379-yard drive at No. 12. OK, he made a great birdie at No. 15, zipping a 9-iron from 160 yards to 2 feet. But he didn't exactly charge to the finish, bogeying two of the final three holes.

Cabrera is a popular winner, a likeable guy who smokes between eight to 10 cigarettes a round and stalks the course like a construction foreman. He smiles easy, hits the ball a long way and is charmingly affable.

It just wasn't what Oakmont had in mind.