Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Jim Furyk reacts after missing a birdie putt on No. 18 at Oakmont in the final round of the 107th U.S. Open. The birdie would have forced a playoff with Angel Cabrera. Click photo for larger image. Multimedia: Excerpts from Jim Furyk's press conference after the 107th U.S. Open at Oakmont Finishing second Click to view video report Angel Cabrera celebrates his U.S. Open championship victory at the Oakmont Country Club. Plus: Bubba Watson survives a triple bogey Volunteers keep leaderboard tradition alive

Maybe it was the sing-song chants of "Here we go Jimmy ... Here we go Jimmy" that reverberated throughout the hills at Oakmont Country Club as Jim Furyk strode toward the 17th tee yesterday. Or possibly it was the adrenaline of the final day of the U.S. Open that pumped him up.

Here was Furyk tied for the lead awaiting the inviting 306-yard, par-4 17th, which played as the third-easiest hole of the tournament.

He was feeling strong. Maybe too strong for his own good.

Furyk pulled his drive to the left, the ball sailing farther than he expected. Farther than it had all week. And with it Furyk's hopes of winning the 107th U.S. Open sailed into the late afternoon sky.

Furyk's ball plunked in deep rough, leaving him what should have been a routine chip to the middle of the green and a routine par that would have kept him in a tie with Angel Cabrera. Instead, his chip landed short of the green. He chipped again from the rough to within 15 feet and missed the putt for a damaging bogey.

"I'm still a little surprised I made a bogey at 17," said Furyk, who was born in West Chester, Pa., and then lived in Duck Hollow near Uniontown in Fayette County, between the ages of 2 and 7. His dad, Mike, an affable guy who was the pro at Duck Hollow Golf Club, was the only teacher Jim ever had, but he didn't teach him the hitch in his swing that evolved over time.

"With the pin on the left-hand side of that green, the no-no is to go left but I didn't think I'd hit the ball ... I haven't hit a ball anywhere within 20 yards of anywhere that one went. So I was shocked to see how far it went," Furyk said. "I didn't realize from the tee box that I put myself into that poor of a position. I should have been able to dig it out and make a 4."

He drew a long breath before adding, "It cost me."

Furyk parred No. 18 for a final-round 70 and a 286 total that left him in a tie for second with Tiger Woods, one behind Cabrera. Furyk, the only player to shoot par or under for the two rounds over the weekend, also finished in a tie for second at the 2006 Open at Winged Foot Golf Club in New York.

"No one likes consolation prizes. I'm proud of those finishes, but you know, a second is not that much fun to be honest with you," said Furyk, who won the 2003 Open at Olympia Hills outside Chicago. "It was a lot of fun coming back to Pennsylvania, my family being from Pittsburgh, knowing that this is where my roots started. Even though I grew up in eastern Pennsylvania and I call Lancaster home, I had so much support here and so many fans from Pennsylvania rooting for me, it was special. It meant a lot to me.

"I heard a ton [from the fans]. 'Here we go Jimmy' was the great one on 17. Wish I could have made birdie. I would have remembered that a lot longer."

Furyk was asked if he will be second-guessing himself for using a driver on the short 17th rather than an iron or hybrid club to lay up for an easy pitch to the green.

"The play I made was the play. Now if I went back, I wouldn't hit left of the green for sure," he said. "But, no, it was the play. I would stick by that play through and through with the way wind conditions were and the pin position was. In my mind, I made the right decision."

Furyk said he didn't know his position when he stood on the 17th tee because there wasn't a leader board in sight. He was unaware that Cabrera, playing in the twosome ahead of him, had made a bogey on No. 17 to go to 5 over and a tie with Furyk.

"There was no way for me to know that [Cabrera made bogey]," Furyk said. "I heard the groan [when Cabrera missed his par putt] and I knew he missed a putt of some sort, but I didn't know if it was a birdie or a par putt."

Furyk rallied with three consecutive birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 15, after he fell behind by four strokes with a bogey at the 12th.

"That's what we do to get into those positions to try to win tournaments," he said. "I think I got really excited after knocking in the putt at 15."

For the round, Furyk had birdies on 6, 13, 14 and 15 and bogeys on 2, 11, 12 and 17.

"I had a few holes like 2, 12 and 17 where I really should have been able to make par, to manage par on those three holes, and I wasn't able to do it," he said. "That's what a U.S. Open does to you."

Or, just maybe, that's what the chants did to Furyk.