Angel Cabrera deservedly wins the Oakmont lottery - but the course set-up was crazy

Cabrera's first and final round 69s were two of only eight sub-par rounds in the whole tournament so he deserved to win. But do we really want to see the world's greatest golfers struggling like 20 handicappers to master a course which, at times, was more crazy golf than a fair challenge of their skills?

Rags to riches is always a great story

But first let's hail Cabrera's success. Like his compatriot José Cóceres, Cabrera comes from a very humble background and he has a similar place in the affections of those who play and follow the European tour. I remember how well-received was Cóceres's win in the Dubai Desert Classic in 2000 (Runner up Paul McGinley made a very gracious speech paying tribute to the Argentinean's triumph over adversity). Cabrera's achievement in being the first South American to win a Major for forty years will no doubt be even more welcome in the tournament locker rooms.

Oakmont made fools of them all

As spectators we want to see the world's top golfers being tested at professional tournaments, especially in the Majors - but the rewards of winning and the fierce competition for success should be sufficient to give all players a touch of the jitters. We probably accept that courses need to be lengthened when modern equipment can lead to drives of nearly 400 yards. But surely those who design and set-up courses want them to be a fair test of golfing skills? Oakmont patently was too much of a lottery. The greens were too fast, the "light" rough was too long and the bunkers were a nightmare. Chance plays its part in all sports, not least golf, and we don't want bland courses which eliminate risk and allow the more cautious players to triumph. But at Oakmont the brave were penalised all the time and there really was no room for error at all.

Woods third round was a masterpiece - perhaps his greatest ever

Tiger Woods played one of the greatest rounds of his life in the third round - a 69 which could have been five shots better. The putts didn't roll in - he took 35 putts in that round which I suspect is one of the highest totals in his career - the greens were treacherous and the force wasn't with him. By contrast in Woods final round of 72, in which he was much less brilliant from tee to green, he had only 30 putts (about par for the Tiger). In the final round Woods was as determined as always to win - but his game fell away from the heights of the previous day. He must have started to blame the course and once his mind was telling him the set-up was unfair his game stared to slip. Sometimes Tiger's course management is impeccable - at St Andrews in 2005 and Hoylake last year he played brilliant, pragmatic percentage golf and won with aggregates of 14 and 18 under par respectively. No one was even to approach finishing under par at Oakmont.

Even the humble hacker can dream

One of the great delights of golf is that even the humble high-handicap hacker like me can dream that we can walk the same fairways as the greats. Some years ago I played at the famous Old Course at Sunningdale and by my usually deplorable standards I made a decent fist of the round. A few pars and a near birdie made my day on a course that had been played the day before by Jack Nicklaus! Emboldened by this "success" I then decided to play at the Open Championship links course Royal St George's. It was a disaster. I couldn't even see the fairways on some of the holes, let alone reach them and I lost about nine balls in the ghastly scrubby rough. A course where they play Majors does have to be a bit different - but a single figure handicap amateur would not have had my troubles at Royal St George's. That is why Butch Harmon's remarks during the television coverage at this year's US Open were so revealing. He said that a 5 handicapper would have struggled to break 100 at Oakmont this week. Well there were more than 50 rounds of 80 or worse from the world's greatest professionals - that suggests a course which is close to unplayable.

Let's hope Carnoustie is a fairer test of skill

As chance would have it the next Major, The Open Championship, is at Carnoustie - arguably the toughest course on the roster. In 1999 the winning score was +6 and all of the fancied players fell by the wayside leaving local boy Paul Lawrie as the last man standing. With no disrespect to him, nor to the admirable Angel Cabrera, but when the course set-up is much too harsh surprise winners do tend to emerge. I hope that for Carnoustie they will make the course tough, but fair and that it will be a proper test of golfing skills rather than the lottery we saw at Oakmont.