It's hard not to like Angel Cabrera

Trying to make sense of a U.S. Open that managed to be compelling despite fewer birdies than an Optimist Club outing:

· It’s hard not to like Angel Cabrera. I mean, here’s a guy who can absolutely mash a golf ball and isn’t afraid to light up between shots. That was perfect for Oakmont, in Arnie’s back yard, considering the King was always being photographed with a cigarette dangling from his lips.
“There are some players that have psychologists,” Cabrera said. “I smoke.”

· And I wonder, does El Pato (the duck) always wear yellow on Sundays?

· When Tiger Woods reflects on this near miss, two things may come to his mind - how much better his Saturday score could have been and the skulled pitch shot he hit from behind the third green Sunday that led to his only double bogey of the week.
The 69 he shot in the third round was as high a score as it could’ve been and it easily could’ve been three or four shots lower.
He didn’t play particularly well Sunday - he never seemed to find his rhythm - but he relied on his heavenly short game to continually bail him out of trouble. But the skull he hit at the third hole was shocking and, as he said so many times, you can’t win the Open if you make doubles.

· In his last four majors, Tiger has finished 1-1-2-2.

· And consider this stat: In his first 21 majors as a pro, Tiger won seven and never finished second. The next 21, he’s won five and finished second four times. Sound like Nicklaus?

· Bubba Watson impressed me. I didn’t think he had it in him to be as consistent as he was at the Open.

· Really now, other than Tiger, who’s going to look good wearing that red shirt he had on Sunday afternoon? I know Nike isn’t trying to sell shirts to those of old enough to remember Orville Moody but I don’t see a big rush coming for those Tiger shirts.

· Aaron Baddeley. Oh no.

· You can bet that the Open will be back at Oakmont in about 10 years. And it should be. But make it just a little bit easier, please.

· Did Jim Furyk learn anything from Phil Mickelson’s mistake last year at Winged Foot?
Why did he hit driver at the 17th hole, knowing it brought bogey into the equation? Hit an iron off the tee, wedge it into the green and try to make birdie that way. That was a crushing way to go after birdies at 13, 14 and 15 were writing a classic comeback story.
Furyk said he didn’t know he was tied for the lead at the time and he’d hit driver again in the same situation. It killed a great story about a western Pennsylvania guy winning at Oakmont.