Another second will lead Woods to even more firsts

Tiger Woods finished second for the second major in a row, extending his streak to 29 majors in which he has failed to come from behind on Sunday to win. But majors are all about winning for him, and he expects to do that again very soon.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.com Correspondent

OAKMONT, Pa. -- He didn't get it done. Again.

Lord knows we don't have to remind him.

One of those double-breakers falls instead of curling around -- or below or beside -- the hole Sunday afternoon and he's in a Monday playoff.

Two fall and he's a three-time U.S. Open champion.

And that's only because Saturday's incredible ball-striking left us shaking our heads when 30 feet of almosts stood between him and a round that would have put Johnny Miller's 63 in the rearview mirror.

Tiger Woods sighed.

He didn't want to stand on Oakmont's 18th green watching Angel Cabrera clutch the trophy from the 107th U.S. Open. He didn't want to tie Jim Furyk for second -- one shot back.

"You play so hard, and it's just disappointing," he said. "My last four majors, I've (finished) 1-1-2-2. Not terrible, but could have been a little bit better.

" ... I haven't gotten it done. Put myself there and haven't gotten it done."

He shook his head.

He didn't have to say a word. The numbers are staggering. Two majors. Two seconds. Two chances irrevocably lost on a march toward history. Four incredible numbers that no one else in the game can match. Thisclose to a second Tiger Slam.

But what everyone will talk about is that he's never come from behind to win a major. He is, in fact, 0-for-29.

It's always been about winning for him and, no, that doesn't sit well. He demands more from himself than we ever will. And that's a lot.

He creeps onto the leaderboard and we're wondering when he'll make the move. He's five back with 36 to play and we know.

And when he's right there with 18 to go? We're talking done deal.

Yet in the last 10 weeks, he's been there, not done that. Twice in a row.

He was one shot back of Stuart Appleby going into the final round at the Masters and two back of Aaron Baddeley here at Oakmont. He came to the final hole both times with a chance, but he couldn't pull off the miracle some might say we've come to expect. The Masters went to Zach Johnson; this one to Cabrera.

Yet however high we set our bar for him, his is set so much higher. Someone points to the third hole where two bad chips in a row led to his only double bogey of the tournament. Or the 11th, where he made bogey out of a bunker. Tough stance, he said. Hit a terrible golf shot.

He points to that stretch from Nos. 12 through 14 where he could have made at least one of them. Especially 13.

"It was an easy little putt downhill right to left," he said. "I had to play about a cup outside the right, and I hit it a touch too hard and missed it on the high side."

The final chance at 18? He had to play eight feet of break.

"It's not like I could hit it inside, right firm," Tiger said. "It was a putt I had to die, and if it gets my where below the hole it could run off the ridge -- and I had to throw it up on the high side and give myself a chance. It was actually a triple-breaking putt, broke right to left, left to right and then right to left again.

" ... Hit it with good speed, the hard part was judging how much it was going to kick to the right," he said. "And it took a while to start coming to the left, and by then it was past the line I needed it to be on."

There wasn't, by the way, one glaring thing as far as he was concerned. As always, he'll be analyzing everything.

Just where that edge went overnight is a mystery. He hit 17 greens in the third round and put on a hell of a show. Twenty hours later, he was struggling.

"I wasn't that sharp on that front nine, that's for sure," he said. "I hit some poor iron shots. I felt like I was still controlling my golf ball pretty good. Even though I had a couple of poor ones, they weren't off the planet, just a little bit off line, really not that bad; easy to fix.

"And you saw on the back nine, I hit the ball good on that back nine. I just needed obviously to make one more putt."

He watched them miss at the Masters and had 12 of them lip out inside eight feet in the final two rounds of THE PLAYERS Championship. And the first three rounds of The Memorial Tournament.

And now, here. The greens here are, well, Oakmonstrous. They tilt. They're slick. They're dotted with malicious ridges. About the only straight putt you'll find is that tap-in hanging on the lip. Everything else had one break, if not three.

"It seemed like that all week," he said. "I hit so many good golf shots and ended up 10, 12 feet away and playing two, three feet of break; the putts that were uphill, left to right. I made them; hardly missed any of them.

"But for most of the week. I kept having these big, breaking putts and I had to be real defensive and basically feed the ball down there, and hopefully it went in, but the majority of the putts didn't."

Tiger wasn't alone. This was an Open of attrition. Of hanging in there and hitting that one shot to separate yourself from the rest. Something Cabrera did; something Tiger didn't do.

He stayed patient. He gave himself good looks. He shared the lead. He came back. He only had one three putt all week.

But when he got the chance to pull this one out, he didn't get it done.

"It's not easy," he said when asked how hard it is to live up to expectations. "We have a lot of holes to play. Just because Badds made 7 on the first hole, we still have 17 more to go; it's not like they're handing out the trophy on the first green."

Tiger has spent a decade pushing the limits of our expectations and our minds. He's beaten fields and record books. He's won a dozen majors, completed the career Grand Slam a few times over and even won a Tiger Slam.

He's done everything but come from behind.

There should be no doubt in your mind that he'll do that, too.

Maybe it will be next month at Carnoustie -- if the birth of his first child doesn't keep him home. Maybe at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills in August. Or a Masters.

Just be patient. Follow his lead.

And know -- like he does -- it's not a matter of if, just when.