John Heller, Post-GazetteAngel Cabrera and the U.S. Open trophy.
Click photo for larger image.
Excerpts of Cabrera's press conference (via translator)
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 aliveIt was the story line everyone -- NBC, the United States Golf Association, the 45,000 or so fans on the Oakmont Country Club course -- wanted. It had the makings of the perfect ending for a major golf championship. Who could ask for anything more than the great Tiger Woods chasing down the leader in the final holes of the U.S. Open. It was high drama, high ratings and wonderful golf.
It just ended the wrong way for most people.
It wasn't Woods who was great yesterday. The winner of the 107th U.S. Open was the unlikeliest of champions, a pudgy, unathletic-looking Argentinean named Angel Cabrera, and, no, he wasn't the winning jockey in the Kentucky Derby.
Cabrera was the best golfer in the field of the best golfers in the world. He shot a 69 to give him a four-round total of 285 and a one-stroke victory over Woods and Jim Furyk. Cabrera might not have tamed the legendary Oakmont course, but he was the only golfer in the field to have two subpar rounds.
Cabrera entered the day two strokes behind Woods and four strokes behind 54-hole leader Aaron Baddeley, who faltered early and never was a factor. Playing about 40 minutes in front of Woods, he took the lead early and rarely faltered. When he did, Woods could not take advantage.
"Angel played a beautiful round of golf," Woods said. "He put all the pressure on Jim and I and we fell one shot short."
If the original story line fell apart when Woods could not overcome Cabrera, a secondary one emerged that was pretty good.
How about this script: The anti-golfer -- the one who does everything differently than the rest -- proves that his way is the best way. At least for this tournament.
Cabrera is almost everything Tiger Woods isn't. And since Woods is considered pretty close to being the perfect man -- at least, the perfect golfer -- that might sound like a negative. It's not.
That Cabrera has found success in this world populated with country-club gentlemen and college-educated, teacher-trained golfers is a great story in and of itself.
What a striking difference between the athletic Woods, his bright red shirt pulled tightly across his powerful chest, and the pudgy Cabrera, his bright yellow shirt hanging loosely over his ample gut.
But Cabrera makes no alibis for his physique. He's proud of it.
"I've never frequented the gym," he said. "I've never changed anything. For me, I've always stayed the same, never changed because of what other people are doing. I've never been to a gym, not once in my life."
Cabrera fits none of the molds of today's professional golfer. Not only does he disdain strength training, but he also smokes, an almost unheard of habit for professional athletes. He was seen smoking several times during the final round and acknowledged he smokes eight to 10 cigarettes during a round.
"Some golfers have psychologists, I smoke," he said to much laughter in the interview room.
Nor is he a college man, the route that so many of his peers take to the PGA Tour. Woods, for example, went to Stanford. Furyk matriculated at Arizona. David Toms and Bubba Watson, who tied for fifth, went to LSU and Georgia. Cabrera, who speaks little English but understands a good bit more, never quite made it to college.
"I went to elementary school, nothing more," he said.
Woods was taught by his father and after him by some of the finest teachers money can buy. To this day, his swing coach walks the course with him. He's the rule, rather than the exception in this regard.
Cabrera, naturally, is the exception.
"I've never had a professional coach," he said. "Some people have given me advice, but I never had a coach."
Not all PGA Tour members come from wealthy backgrounds, but many do and it helps. Wealthy or even middle-class parents can handle the expense that comes with learning how to play golf the right way.
Cabrera was asked if his parents wanted him to be a golfer.
"No. See my parents didn't have many plans for me. Economically, it was rough. We were poor. There was no money for school, so there was really nothing for me to do. Not much hope for any kind of a future."
Somehow, Cabrera found golf. A local club let the kids in on Monday. Obviously, he had an aptitude for it. Obviously, he's a far better athlete than he appears.
Now he's part of golf history, winner of the U.S. Open, conqueror of Tigers Woods.
That might not be the story people wanted, but, come to think of it, it's better than the one they wanted.
First Published: June 18, 2007, 4:00 a.m.
