This was the eighth U.S. Open and eleventh professional major held at Oakmont.[5]
History of the U.S. Open at Oakmont
The championship committee of the United States Golf Association chose Oakmont Country Club as the host for 2007 on October 2, 2001.[5] The USGA had also recently decided to award Oakmont its 13th USGA national championship, the U.S. Amateur, only four years before the 14th national championship to be held at Oakmont. Oakmont's prestige in the golf community was irrefutable as the list of champions includes Tommy Armour (1927), Sam Parks, Jr. (1935), Ben Hogan (1953), Jack Nicklaus (1962), Johnny Miller (1973), Larry Nelson (1983), and Ernie Els (1994).[6] Oakmont had already provided the golf world with some of the most exciting championships of golf history including Miller's record for the lowest score shot in a USGA championship, a 63 (−8) in 1973, and the dramatic Monday finish in 1994 between Els, Loren Roberts, and Colin Montgomerie.
Preparation for the 2007 U.S. Open
The 107th U.S. Open was Oakmont's first USGA event since the U.S. Amateur in 2004. The USGA, American Golf's governing body, found setting up and preparing for the Open easier than other locations. Rob Zalzneck, the director of the 2007 Open for the USGA commented on the readiness of the course saying, "We're so far ahead with our plans and what we need to get done, Oakmont is just such an ideal situation for us. The club welcomes us with open arms, and we've had such great championships here in the past. What everyone will see, though, is the unbelievable difference in the size of the event from 1994 (when Oakmont last hosted the Open) and this year."[7] It was thought that the usual Open conditions would still exist, including the lightning fast greens and unusually high rough, as many of these features were common year round at Oakmont Country Club leading up to the Open. In fact, Oakmont's greens were so fast that the USGA directed the club to slow them down for the Open, although they were still much faster than what would be found at a normal tour event.[8]
Preparation began in 2002 and 2003 and included minor renovation to the course, most notably the lengthening of the course for the world's best players, small renovations to the clubhouse, and also the deepening of Oakmont's storied bunkers.[7] Other changes to the course since the last Open in 1994 included the addition of a bridge to connect to holes 2–8, which posed as a major problem causing player and pedestrian jams over the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The USGA recruited some 5,000 volunteers in order to insure the event progresses smoothly. The event was expected to, like the last Open at Oakmont, attract record breaking sell-out crowds. Crowd control was also a major problem for the USGA and its volunteers as huge crowds filled the course during the tournament creating traffic problems. The USGA began selling tickets to the general public on June 15, 2006. The USGA was expected to sell out all of their tickets for the competitive rounds by their deadline for purchase on August 15, 2006. After the sale of all tickets for the competitive rounds, any post-deadline purchases were settled by a lottery.[9]
Partnership with American Express
For the first time in its history, the United States Golf Association entered into a commercial partnership. It entered into an agreement with American Express for an undisclosed amount, which allowed American Express to set up a special "Trophy Room" area at the 2007 U.S. Open for American Express cardholders. Jud Linville, president of American Express U.S. Consumer Card Services, addressed concern about the arrangement commercializing the USGA Championship, saying, “We’re not going to be slapping logos all over the place, we’re trying to broaden the appeal of the game.” Long-time American Express sponsorship recipient Tiger Woods told the media in response to the deal, “It’s a tremendous opportunity, this is two enormous brands coming together to help golf.”[10]
Field
About half the field each year consists of players who are fully exempt from qualifying for the U.S. Open. Below is the list of the 72 players that were fully exempt for the 2007 U.S. Open. Each player is classified according to the first category by which he qualified, but other categories are shown in
parentheses:
Ángel Cabrera birdied the 477-yard (436 m) 9th hole (his 18th) after hitting an approach with a sand wedge to within two feet (0.6 m) to take a one-shot lead at the halfway point.[14] The shot moved the cut line from +11 to +10, eliminating 19 players (including Phil Mickelson,[15] who had had the longest current streak of making cuts at major championships at 30).[16]
Paul Casey shot a 66 for the low round of the day when the average score was 76.933, the highest since the final round in 2004 at Shinnecock Hills. Stephen Ames' 69 was the only other score under par for the third round. The cut was at 150 (+10) and no amateurs advanced to the weekend.
Amateurs: Harrell (+11), Ramsay (+12), Kokrak (+16), Davies (+17), Kelly (+18), Kuehne (+19), Golden (+20), Condello (+22), Pettitt Jr (+23), Prugh (+23), Ureta (+23), Lee (WD).[14][17]
Third round
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Aaron Baddeley shot a second straight even-par round of 70, including a birdie on the 18th hole, to take a two-shot lead heading into the final round.[18]Tiger Woods hit the first 17 greens in regulation en route to a 1-under 69, barely needing to work to save par until his only bogey on the last hole, and finished in second place two shots behind Baddeley. It was one of just two under-par rounds on the day (Steve Stricker shot a 68), and placed Woods in the final pairing on Sunday. To this point in his career, Woods had never won a major championship by coming from behind, which he would have had to do to win his third U.S. Open. Four players were one stroke behind Woods at 215 (+5).
Ángel Cabrera shot a 1-under 69 to become the first Argentinian to win the U.S. Open.[2][3][4] He entered the final round four shots behind, after shooting a disappointing 76 on Saturday. This gave him a 2:20 pm tee time on Sunday, 40 minutes ahead of the final pairing, which included Tiger Woods. After a birdie on the 15th hole, Cabrera was 3-under for the round, with a three stroke lead over Woods and a surging Jim Furyk.
After bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes that reduced his lead to one, Cabrera parred the difficult 18th hole and then had to wait in the clubhouse for Furyk and Woods to finish. Furyk tied for the lead with 3 straight birdies from 14-16, but bogeyed 17 to fall 1 stroke behind. Both Furyk and Woods needed to birdie the 72nd hole to force a Monday playoff but neither did, giving Cabrera the victory by a single stroke. Cabrera and Anthony Kim (67) were the only players to post sub-par scores during the final round. Aaron Baddeley was the 54-hole leader, but opened with a triple bogey and shot 80 (+10). The field broke par for only eight rounds during the tournament, just two players per day on the difficult Oakmont layout, and Cabrera was the only player to break par twice.
Ángel Cabrera
