Andy Starnes, Post-Gazette Angel Cabrera acknowledges the crowd after arriving on the 18th green for the awards ceremony for his U.S. Open victory yesterday.

By Gerry Dulac, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

They were hoping for a coronation of Tiger Woods, a champion to join the other great players who have won at Oakmont Country Club. They were thinking their legacy would be enhanced even if Aaron Baddeley had won the 107th U.S. Open, a young rising star who would have joined the other twenty-something players -- Johnny Miller, Jack Nicklaus and Ernie Els -- to win their first major at Oakmont.

	Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Angel Cabrera kisses the trophy after winning the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club yesterday. Click photo for larger image. Multimedia: Press conference excerpts of the top three finishers at the 107th U.S. Open at Oakmont: Champion Angel Cabrera (via translator) Tiger Woods Jim Furyk Click to view video report Angel Cabrera celebrates his U.S. Open championship victory at the Oakmont Country Club. Plus: Bubba Watson survives a triple bogey Volunteers keep leaderboard tradition alive More coverage Day Four Report: U.S. Open: Cabrera defeats Woods, Furyk by one shot Bob Smizik: Cabrera's script better than expected Ron Cook: Woods fails to join list of legendary winners at storied Oakmont Oakmont appears the winner after final putt Analysis: Cabrera's win not a perfect fit Baddeley's day goes downhill in a hurry Loyal followers kept the faith Encouragement from the crowd pleases Furyk Surprising Fasth finishes strong U. S. Open Notebook: Elderly, disabled winners at Oakmont Inside the Open: Day Four SEEN at the U.S. Open: Lexus and the Links PLUS: Blog: Rough Shots U.S. Open Photo Gallery Our U.S. Open section

But when it was all over last night, when the carnage finally subsided after four days, there was Angel Cabrera, a barrel-chested, cigarette-smoking thumper from Argentina, standing alongside the names of Nicklaus, Bobby Jones and Ben Hogan, a major championship winner at Oakmont.

To be sure, there was nothing graceful about the way Cabrera won the U.S. Open. But, despite bogeys on two of the final three holes, the player known as El Pato -- Spanish for his nickname, "The Duck" -- managed to glide past Woods and Jim Furyk yesterday and claim his first major title.

"It's a great moment for me," Cabrera said. "I can't believe it."

Cabrera, 37, proved to be a giant-killer at Oakmont, knocking Phil Mickelson from the tournament with a final-hole birdie in the second round, then knocking out Woods and Furyk, the Nos. 1 and 3 players in the world, with a combination of brutish power and unflinching nerve.

His final-round 69 gave him a 72-hole total of 5-over 285 -- the same winning score as a year ago at Winged Foot -- good for a one-shot victory over Woods and Furyk. He earned $1.26 million for the victory.

"No, no, no, I beat everybody, not only him," Cabrera said of Woods.

Cabrera made five birdies in the final round and used his length to try to overpower Oakmont, hitting drives of 379 yards at No. 12 and 346 yards at No. 18. The latter enabled him to hit pitching wedge 20 feet past the cup at the final hole and two-putt for victory.

He became only the second player from Argentina to win a major championship, joining Roberto de Vincenzo, who won the 1967 British Open.

Asked where the trophy will go, Cabrera said, "With me, in my bed. It's going to sleep with me."

Woods, who began the round two shots behind 54-hole leader Baddeley, shot 72 and finished at 286, his second runner-up finish in a row in a major championship this season. Despite holding the lead at one point in the final rounds of the Masters and U.S. Open, Woods kept alive his streak of never coming from behind to win a major championship.

"I put myself in position and played well and haven't got it done," Woods said. "That's one of the things I need to look at."

It was also the second year in a row Furyk has finished second in the U.S. Open -- the first player with back-to-back runner-up finishes since Arnold Palmer in 1966-67.

While Woods stayed close to Cabrera by making pars on 13 of the final 14 holes, Furyk put on a finishing flurry to challenge for the championship, making three consecutive birdies on the back nine to tie for the lead. The charge ended, though, when Furyk bogeyed the 306-yard 17th after hitting his driver over the green and into the left shaggy rough.

"No one likes consolation prizes," said Furyk, who shot a final-round 70.

"I'm proud of the way I played, but second isn't that much fun."

Woods will look back on two unpardonable mistakes in the round that cost him a 13th major championship. The first came at No. 3 when, from the middle of the fairway, he hopped his approach over the green and down into the tightly mowed collection area, leading to a double bogey.

The other came at No. 11, a 379-yard par 4, when he missed the green again from the fairway and made bogey from the greenside bunker. They were the only bogeys Woods made in the final round, and each came from the fairway.

"That's the way it goes," Woods said. "I hit terrible golf shots."

Woods hit 11 greens in regulation in the final round, giving him 28 in the last 36 holes, but he made only one birdie in the final 32 holes. Despite three-putting just once in 72 holes, Woods finished 41st in the field with 126 putts, including 65 in the final two rounds.

"I hit so many great golf shots that ended 10, 12 feet away, and I had to play 2 or 3 feet of break," Woods said. "For most of the round, I had those big breaking putts and I had to putt defensively."

Furyk appeared to let his chances slip away when he made back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 11 and 12, holes that were playing among the easiest on the course. But he quickly atoned with a 10-foot birdie at the par-3 13th and a 15-foot birdie at No. 14 to get within two shots of Cabrera. A hole ahead, Cabrera tapped in a 2-foot birdie at No. 15 -- he nearly spun his approach into the hole -- to build his lead back to three.

Furyk made it three birdies in a row when he hit a 7-iron to 6 feet at No. 15, moving ahead of Woods on the leader board and getting within two shots of the lead. Moments later, when Cabrera three-putted the par-3 16th from 80 feet, the lead was down to one.

And when Cabrera laid up at the short 17th and made bogey again, this time skipping his approach off the back of the green, Furyk was tied for the lead for the first time since the tournament began.

"I got pretty excited after I made the birdie at 15," Furyk said. "That was a pretty crucial putt. I had to get some momentum going."

But, like Cabrera, Furyk bogeyed No. 17, the shortest par 4 on the course, when he hit driver over the green in the shaggy rough and left his approach on the steep bank.

"I'm a little surprised the ball went as far as it did, a little pea-shooter like me," Furyk said. "I haven't hit the ball within 20 yards of where that was. With my length, I can hit it up the left side and it's perfect. It carried a lot farther today."