What's In Angel Cabrera's Golf Bag? 2007 US Open

Angel Cabrera won the 2007 US Open Golf Championship this last weekend at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pennsylvania. Do you want to know what he was carrying in his golf bag during his win?

Driver: Ping Rapture 7.5°
3 wood: Ping TiSi Tech 14°
Hybrid: Nickent 3DX DC ironwood 17°
Irons:  (3-9) Ping S58 w/ Rifle 7.0 shaft
PW:     Ping S58 47°
SW:     Titleist Vokey spin milled 54°
LW:     Titleist Vokey prototype 60°
Putter: Ping Redwood Anser 35 inch long
Ball:   Titleist Pro V1x

Cabrera started the final round 4 shots out of the lead, but ended up winning the tournament by 1 stroke over Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk. His final round 69 was very impressive considering he had never won a PGA tour event. He had a lot of pressure with Tiger breathing down his neck, but he handled it very well. Tiger had many chances to take the tournament, but his putter pretty much failed him for the entire tournament.

Cabrera is the first Argentinian in golf history to win the US Open. Also, it was the first time in US Open history that an interpreter was required to help present the U.S. Open Trophy to the winning golfer. Angel took home $1.26 million dollars for the win. In second place both Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk took home $611,336.

US Open At Oakmont Gives Amateur Golfers Hope

The US Open Golf Championship is the one time we amateur golfers get to watch professional golfers struggle to play and score well. I think as an amateur we get some sadistic pleasure out watching these guys hit shots that look like a 30-handicapper would hit.

You watch these professional golfers hitting out of the rough and they're only able to advance it 30 yards sometimes. I think watching these tour pros fluff a 10-yard pitch shot back into the rough makes all of us amateur golfers feel a little better about all the times we've done the same at our local golf course.

Sunday's round was hard to watch at times because you had to feel bad for some of those players... especially Aaron Baddeley. He's got a great game and he seems to be a really great person. Watching him make triple-bogey on the first hole of Sunday's round was tough to watch. He wasn't able to recover from that and ended up carding a 10-over 80 finishing at 12-over par for the championship.

You have to give Angel Cabrera a lot of credit for playing the way he did. He hit some incredible golf shots down the stretch with several of his iron shots finishing only a few feet from the hole for tap in birdies.

Tiger Woods had some many chances to tie and even take the lead during his round on Sunday. We've all become accustomed to seeing Tiger pull of the impossible and we all kept waiting for him to make his move on Sunday, but he just wasn't able to do it. His putter pretty much failed him this weekend especially during Saturday's round. I think he could have put the tournament out of reach on Saturday if he had been putting like he usually does. He hit 17 out of 18 greens and made only 2 birdies (1 birdie was a 2-putt on a par 5) and one bogey to finish with a 1-under 69. He could have easily shot 65 or 64 and put a huge amount of pressure on the rest of the field, but it wasn't meant to be.

Furyk made a late run during Sunday's round by birdieing 14, 15, and 16 to get himself within 1 stroke of the lead. I think he lost the tournament by hitting driver on 17 when he should have hit a lay up iron. Furyk ended up bogeying 17 and his chance for a second US Open was gone. Other players who had a chance on Sunday were Paul Casey, Stephen Ames, Steve Stricker, David Toms, Justin Rose, and a few others. At one point each of these players were only a few strokes out of the lead, but at the end of the day Oakmont Country Club prevailed.

Angel Cabrera's final round 69 was enough to give him a 1-stroke victory over Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk. He become the only Argentinian in golf history to win the US Open Golf Championship. Congratulations Angel... you were the better golfer this weekend.

As an amateur golfer, we should all feel a little better about our own golf game knowing that even a professional golfer can shoot in the 80's and at times look like a high-handicapper.

2007 Players Championship Goes To The 17th Island Green

What a weekend of golf at The Players Championship in Florida at the TPC Sawgrass. I watched every minute of the golf tournament this weekend and I wasn't disappointed. As a golf fan you had to appreciate how good these PGA pros are.

It seemed like I couldn't leave the room because I felt like I was going to miss some extraordinary golf shot or someone falling victim to the island green at the 17th hole. If you watched the golf play over the weekend then you saw 2-double ealges also know as an albatross. These things are supposed to come around once in a great while... not 2 times in 2 days. I also saw eagles from middle of the fairway and other shots that had no right going into the hole, but then again these guys are the best golfers in the world.

The TPC stadium island green 17th hole grabbed a few golfers by the throat and choked any chance they had of staying in contention. Rory Sabatini came to the 17th on Friday very much in contention and put one in the water... and walked away with a quadruple-bogey 7.

There were many others that feel victim to the 17th, but none were more painful to watch than Sean O'Hair's. Sean came to the 17th hole 2-shots down from Phil Micklson and in 2nd place all by himself, which was worth over $900,000. Sean decided to hit 9-iron straight at the pin where Micklson had just hit a pitching wedge to the middle of the green. Sean's shot had the flag covered, but it flew over the flag and straight into the water. Sean proceeded to the drop area and hit a knock-down wedge that skipped several times on the green and landed...

Sean's golf story growing up with his overbearing father was incredible and I felt myself and I'm sure many other golf fans routing for him to do well. Being paired with Phil in the last group had to have been a lot of pressure, but Sean seemeed to handled it like a veteran pro. Missing his very short birder putts on 15 and 16 proved to be very costly. If he had made only one of those then he wouldn't have had to go for the pin on 17 because he would've been only 1-shot behind Phil.

Sean's knock-down drop shot landed in the water and now he had to drop another ball hitting 5. He got this one on the green and 2-putted for a quadruple-bogey 7... and now tied for 6th place putting Sergio Garcia in 2nd place all by himself. Phil 2-putted for par and they both went to the 18th hole with Phil holding on to a 3-shot lead at 12-under.

Sean and Phil both hit great tee shots into the middle of the fairway. Phil hit first and made things really exciting with his approach shot. Hit a flare 5-iron that barely landed on the green and came about 8-inches from going into the water. They both bogeyed the whole and Phil won his first Players Championship.

I do have to admit that Phil's play on Sunday was awesome. He had great control over his entire game especially his driver. He hit every fairway and hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation. The work he has done with Butch Harmon has done wonders for his confidence and ball striking. If Phil continues to progress like he has been then he'll be tough to beat come mid June for the US Open at Oakmont.

Phil took home around $1.6 million and Sean ended up in with a little over $200,000 and out of the top 10. If you do the math then the 17th hole cost Sean O'Hair around $700,000... ouch!