Cabrera’s formula for success: Catch me if you can, Tiger

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OAKMONT, Pa.

It was earlier this week, around the time predictions about how difficult the Oakmont Country Club might play for the U.S. Open ranged from drier than your typical Iranian desert to slicker than the ice for an Olympic skating competition, when former champion Johnny Miller suggested this possible scenario:

The more ridiculous you make a golf course, the more likely it is you will crown a ridiculous champion.

Angel Cabrera winning his first major doesn’t rank as an absurd conclusion — the cheerful Argentine tied for eighth at the Masters and was seventh at the British Open last year — but his gripping the champion’s trophy here early Sunday evening reaffirmed a few truths:

The Open never will be about separating the best players, and there’s no better position to be on Sunday than playing ahead of Tiger Woods.

The ideal recipe for winning majors when Woods is in contention has more and more taken shape: Go out, post a score and dare him to match it. Defy him to make a birdie or two. Challenge him from the comforts of watching in the locker room.

In this way, Cabrera by shooting 1-under par 69 to finish at 5-over 285, took a cue from Zach Johnson at the Masters in April and Michael Campbell at the Open in 2005 and Rich Beem at the PGA in 2002.

They all beat Woods from a different pairing, more secret attack than tee-to-green combat. The latter only leads to one’s eventual slaughter, as 54-hole leader Aaron Baddeley discovered at Oakmont by shooting a final round 80 to finish 12-over.

Baddeley had a triple-bogey on the first hole, the same number Stuart Appleby posted when teeing off with Woods in the final round of the Masters this year.

It’s a fairly simple message: If you want to beat Woods in these things, go with the bushwhack strategy.

“I didn’t beat just him,” said Cabrera, who they call, ‘The Duck.’ “I beat everyone.”

Memo to Angel: Nobody cares about everyone. Everyone doesn’t matter. Everyone is boring. Everyone isn’t pursued by massive galleries and followed down fairways by larger flocks of media than you find on national election nights. One guy keeps the weekend golf fan interested, one infamous Nike swoosh.

Woods, who finished tied for second with Jim Furyk at 6-over, is now 0-for-29 in majors when not leading after 54 holes. This latest miss is easily explained: In the tournament that most punishes errant swings, Woods had a few he couldn’t overcome.

“Finishing second is never fun,” he said. “You play so hard, and it’s disappointing. My last four majors I’ve been first, first, second, second — not terrible, but could have been a little better.”

He could have been a little better at the par-4 third hole and not hit consecutive poor chips for a six. He could have been a little better at the par-4 11th and not hit a terrible approach from 119 yards into the bunker for an eventual five.

He could have been a little better at 12, 13 and 14 and actually sunk a birdie putt instead of walking away with three pars. He could have been a little better and not flew a full wedge from 154 yards to the top of the 18th green, leaving him a nearly impossible three-break putt to tie Cabrera and force an 18-hole playoff today.

How does a Duck beat a Tiger?

He doesn’t have a double bogey all week.

“(Cabrera) had some great golf shots and that’s what you have to do,” Woods said. “He went out there and put all the pressure on (Furyk) and I.”

Geoff Ogilvy as the defending champion finished 19-over and afterward offered his assessment of Oakmont, which went along the lines that while players should be penalized for bad shots, they shouldn’t be left with zero chance to recover, that there is insanity to missing a fairway by a yard and chipping out to five yards.

Furyk discovered this type of madness at the 306-yard par-4 17th, when he chose to hit his driver, found the thick rough, couldn’t get up-and-down and fell a stroke back of Cabrera with a bogey.

“Then again,” said Ogilvy, speaking while the leaders were still on the course, “the best player in the world might not win this tournament, so that always gives the setup credibility.”

The best player didn’t win, but the course wasn’t completely ridiculous and a ridiculous player didn’t receive the trophy.

Angel Cabrera is the latest to follow that popular formula when Tiger Woods is trying to rally at a major on Sunday: Post your score, get to the locker room, watch, pray and dare him to catch you.

Ed Graney can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com