Photo: © Ross Kinnaird/Getty Image Angel Cabrera will bring the U.S. Open trophy to the Southern Hemispheres for the fourth straight year, this time to Argentina.

OAKMONT, Pa. -- With 18 holes to play in this 107th US Open at Oakmont, Aaron Baddeley led by two shots.

One hole later, Tiger Woods and Stephen Ames were tied at the top of the leader board.

Four holes after that, Angel Cabrera joined Ames looking down on the rest of the field.

After only one more hole had passed, Steve Stricker had assumed pole position.

Then Cabrera and Woods were back alongside Stricker.

And all the while, the angular and stoic figure of Jim Furyk, a true son of western Pennsylvania, lurked.

And so it went on. And on. And on. Especially the lurking. Until finally only Cabrera the Argentine was left, the only man who could stagger/reel/lurch (take your pick) back to the clubhouse on less than six over par. For the fourth year in succession, America's national champion hails from the southern hemisphere.

He just made it though. Undone by a bogey at the driveable 17th, Furyk was a single shot back. Undone by a putting stroke that was no better than tentative all day - he actually made but one birdie in his last 32 holes - world number one Tiger Woods also missed out on a Monday play-off by one miserable stroke. The rest didn't matter in the end. For the record, Niclas Fasth was fourth on seven over, but the Swede was never more than a peripheral figure, distant and detached from the main action elsewhere.

Photo: © Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images Angel Cabrera at the final hole after shooting 69.

For Cabrera, only the second South American after Roberto de Vicenzo to taste victory at this exalted level, this was a career-defining performance. But it was no fluke. The only man to break Oakmont's strict par more than once, the 37-year old from Cordoba deserved his win if only because he played the best golf of anyone in contention on the final day. Yes, he rather stumbled home with a brace of bogeys in the last three holes, but before those late slips his was a round to be savoured on a course set up in a typically brutal fashion.

"I feel great," he said in his faltering English. "This is a great moment for me. I can't believe it. I was so nervous.

"It is very difficult to describe this moment. Only tomorrow when I wake up with the trophy in bed beside me will I realise that I have won the US Open. I lost the British Open very close once and I was also in Augusta."

One of the world's most powerful hitters, Cabrera's inordinate length is the product of a build that brings new meaning to the word 'burly' and a full, beautifully rhythmic swing that sends the ball effortlessly into the middle distance. Yes, he has always been prone to disaster - only three weeks ago he led the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth with four holes to go before cold-topping his tee-shot and making double bogey - but alongside that tendency towards clumsiness he is never less than fun to watch.

We should have seen him coming, too. The last time a major championship venue was so mindlessly submerged by long grass - at Carnoustie in 1999 - Cabrera finished one shot out of the three-man play-off for the claret jug. Clearly, length has its advantages, even when the fairways are but slivers of short grass amidst a sea of rough. Bomb and gouge lives and, guess what, long grass isn't the answer.

Photo: © Sam Greenwood/Getty Images Jim Furyk finishes one back for the second year in a row.

Actually, such a description is more than apt for the new champion. Bashing his way to victory, he missed more fairways than he aimed at this week, but still managed to be third in the greens-in-regulation category, evidence enough of his power from grass long enough to cover one's shoes. In that respect at least, he is the epitome of the modern professional.

Come to think of it, maybe the USGA should come up with a different way to muzzle the siege guns that are threatening to dominate the game in the 21st century.

Here's an idea. How about we come back to Oakmont next year and play the US Open with no rough at all? None. Take it from me, the winning score won't be much lower if at all - if that is a problem for the USGA. And think of the benefits. There are some delicious angles out there just begging to be used by someone with a bit of imagination and skill.

In other words, let the players decide for themselves where they want to hit their tee-shots rather than dictating to them what is good and what is bad. Make golf at the highest level a test of flair, strategy and decision-making rather than an endless test of execution. Let's put some fun back into the game.

"I hit a couple of good drives today that were a yard off-line," explained defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, who finished in a distant tie for 42nd. "And I made double bogey off both of them. That can't be right, even if that's what we expect when we get here. It's just no fun when we're doing it."

As for the other losers on a day that never really caught fire or took off or rose above the hum-drum, the runners-up were each philosophical in their own distinct ways.

Photo: © Donald Miralle/Getty Images Tiger Woods may of lost by one but he was all smiles for the winner Angel Cabrera at the awards ceremony .

"I had a lot of opportunities, it just didn't work out," said Furyk, who will no doubt be ruing his decision to go for the green and the subsequent bogey at the 313-yard 17th hole. "I'm still a little surprised by 17. The no-no is to go left, but I didn't think I would hit the ball within 20 yards of where I did. So that was a shock.

"But I should have been able to dig it out of the rough. I was playing away from the pin because I had no shot at it. That cost me."

Woods, as usual, was hard on himself. Second place in a Grand Slam event - his second in succession - is not why the 12-time major champion plays golf.

"Finishing second is never fun," he said by way of confirmation. "You play so hard and it's just disappointing. My last four majors have been 1st-1st-2nd-2nd. Not terrible, but could have been a little bit better.

"I wasn't that sharp on the front nine today. I hit some poor iron shots, but I felt like I was controlling my golf ball pretty good. Even the poor shots just a little off-line, which is easy to fix. And on the back nine I hit the ball a lot better. I just needed to make one more putt."

Actually, make 'any putt' might have been a more accurate description of Tiger's performance on the greens all week. Not for the first time, Woods has come up just short because of a frustrating inability to turn his superior tee-to-green play (he hit more fairways and greens than did Cabrera) into victory. At Pinehurst two years ago, for example, he performed the remarkable feat of finishing second to Michael Campbell and at the same time pulling up second to last in putting.

"I just didn't make a birdie coming in," he continued, as if in a trance. "I just didn't make enough birdies."

Yes, Tiger, we know, we know. Maybe you should start missing more fairways. On this week's evidence at least, it seems to be the best way to win this thing.