Start to finish, Oakmont is the winner

How it played: It started badly (and didn’t end so well either) for Aaron Baddeley, whose two-shot lead went away in a puff with a triple bogey at the first hole. Baddeley finished with an 80.

And so it was left for someone else to try to win it. Steve Stricker made a charge, but consecutive double bogeys did him in. Stephen Ames shot 40 on the front to fall out, but Jim Furyk hung tough.

Angel Cabrera led Tiger Woods and Furyk by two shots with Cabrera through 14 holes, Woods through 11 holes and Furyk through 12 holes.

Once Cabrera knocked it stiff at the 15th and rolled in the birdie putt, he had a three-shot lead with three holes to go.

Furyk caught up, then took himself out with a bogey at the 17th, and although Cabrera had slipped with consecutive bogeys at the 16th and 17th, he tapped in for par at the 18th. His lead was one shot over Woods, and from the comfort of the locker room, Cabrera watched the NBC telecast and Woods’ last chance, a curving 25-footer for birdie, fail to drop at the 18th.

Saw it coming: They watered the greens, put the pins in semi-reasonable positions, moved up four tees and generally gave the players something to shoot for. The USGA finally figured that Oakmont was tough enough as it was.

Didn’t see it coming: Or didn’t see them coming. A mother bear and her cub wandered out of the nearby trees and somehow wound up on the seventh fairway of Oakmont, with fans already in the stands. No players had gotten to the hole yet, and the bears were shooed away without incident.

Quote of the day: Anthony Kim, who followed up his third-round 80 with a 67, had three birdies on the front, two birdies and two bogeys on the back. Said Kim: “I had nothing to lose. I’m almost in dead last, so just fire at some pins and hopefully it works out.”

-- Thomas Bonk