Tiger comes close again

Here’s the rundown on the last four majors Tiger Woods has played: first at the British Open at Royal Liverpool, first at the PGA Championship at Medinah, tie for second at the Masters, and now a tie for second at the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.

“Not terrible, but could have been a little bit better,” he said.

Woods had only one birdie the last 32 holes and fell one shot short of Angel Cabrera. Woods finished with a 72 to tie with Jim Furyk. Cabrera had a 69.

“Well, finishing second is never fun.” he said. “You play so hard, and it’s just disappointing.”

Woods also extended an unwanted streak. He’s 0 for 29 in majors when trailing after 54 holes.

*

Total prize money for the Open was $7 million, up $200,000 from last year. Geoff Ogilvy earned $1,225,000 when he won last year at Winged Foot. Cabrera earned $1.26 million for his victory.

Each of the 81 pros who missed the cut made $2,000 apiece.

*

He walked alone -- and fast. Kevin Sutherland was the first player off the tee Sunday at 9:50 a.m. local time and played as a solo in 2 hours 55 minutes.

Sutherland shot a five-over 75 and finished at plus-24 304.

What was his inspiration?

“You kind of have to make your own goals at that point, and my goal is to try and shoot something under par, and kind of maybe build on something for next week,” Sutherland said.

Sutherland said the galleries were terrific as he forged his solo trek.

“These people have been waiting out here for a couple of hours,” he said. “They’re just desperate to see anything. It didn’t really matter. Just a golfer on the tee, they didn’t really care who it was.... I had some banter with some people in the crowd, which was kind of fun. You don’t normally get that chance during a normal round.”

*

Well, at least he was consistent: Two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen shot four rounds of three-over 73 to end up at 12-over 292 and tied for 13th.

“There’s a lot of good things I can look back on this week, and that’s what I need to focus on,” Janzen said.

” ... Today, I think the course just wore me out and I was a little tired and that’s probably why I made a couple of mistakes.”

*

Remember him?

Englishman Nick Dougherty, the first-round leader with his two-under 68, ended up 10 over for the tournament after a final-round 71.

Highlight of his week?

Easy. Being paired for Saturday’s round with Tiger Woods.

“Playing with Tiger Woods is draining,” Dougherty said. “It’s a lot of work. Just the emotion of it, I was so excited, I was so pumped up out there, I was loving it so much. When you’re out there, you feel great. When you come off, it just hits you like a ton of bricks.”