It's hard to believe that Angel Cabrera's moniker is "El Pato", or in English "The Duck". It seems the reason he is so known is because he inherited the same gait as his father, a lumbering, somewhat duck-like walk that is at odds with a physique more like that of a heavyweight boxer than a professional golfer.

On Sunday evening, on the 18th green at Oakmont Country Club where the Argentine was presented with the US Open trophy, Cabrera's attempted high-five with world number one Tiger Woods was a rather lame attempt, his timing off-sync. But it was one of the few times on a famous day for Cabrera that he mistimed anything, his finishing total of 285, five over, giving him a one-stroke win over Woods and fellow-American Jim Furyk.

If, for Woods, who managed only one birdie in his last 32 holes over the weekend, it felt like another one that got away - he also finished runner-up to Zach Johnson in the Masters in April - it was an astonishing breakthrough win for Cabrera, whose victory moved him from 41st up to 17th in the latest official world rankings. His highest ever ranking was ninth, back in 2005.

Cabrera's arrival as a major winner is a story akin to a Hollywood movie script. His golfing education started as a 10-year-old in his native Cordoba, where he caddied but, crucially, was allowed to play the golf course one day a week - on a Monday - and, when as a 20-year-old, he decided to turn professional, Cabrera was funded in the early years by fellow-Argentine tour player Eduardo Romero who took a percentage of his prodigy's prizemoney.

It was an arrangement that suited Cabrera, as he sought to find his way on tour, playing mainly in South America - where his first tournament win came in the 1995 Paraguay Open - before becoming a mainstay of the European Tour. Prior to last Sunday, his biggest tournament success had been the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2005, when he fended off Paul McGinley in a duel down the home stretch.

But the US Open is different, another few rungs up the ladder; and, for Cabrera, his closing round 69 - making him the only player in the field to produce two sub-par rounds - to close out the deal will, surely, make other players on the European Tour scratch their heads and wonder why they can't finish the job in majors.

Maybe they will find some inspiration in yet another of their kind - following on from Retief Goosen, Michael Campbell and Geoff Ogilvy, Cabrera's immediate predecessors as US Open champions - taking the great prize.

When it was put to Cabrera at the post-championship media conference on Sunday evening that he should be proud because he held off Woods, Cabrera interjected.

"No, no, no. I beat everybody, not just him," he said.

It was a valid point: Cabrera had conquered the Oakmont course, and the entire field.

So it was that Cabrera became the latest in a list of Oakmont champions, joining Tommy Armour (1927), Sam Parks Jnr (1935), Ben Hogan (1953), Jack Nicklaus (1962), Johnny Miller (1973), Larry Nelson (1983) and Ernie Els (1994). "It's a great moment for me," said Cabrera, who collected the top prize of $1.26 million.

"I can hardly believe it," he added.

Cabrera's win - only the second by an Argentine player in a major, following on from Robert de Vincenzo's British Open triumph in 1967 - came at the expense of Woods and Furyk, two men who have savoured the prize before.

For Furyk, it was his second successive runner's-up finish in the US Open, having also finished a stroke outside of Ogilvy at Winged Foot a year ago. "No-one likes consolation prizes, second isn't that much fun," said Furyk.

For Woods, it was his second successive runner-up finish in a major, following on from his second place finish in the Masters. He has now gone 1st-1st-2nd-2nd in his last four majors. But it also extended the remarkable statistic that Woods has never come from behind in the last round to win a major. All of his 12 major victories have come when he has either led outright or shared the lead going into the last round.

"I put myself into position (to win) and played well and haven't got it done. That's one of the things I need to look at . . . but Angel played a beautiful round of golf. He had some great golf shots, and that's what you have to do," said Woods.

For Cabrera, an infrequent winner on the European Tour which has been his home since 1996, victory should not have come as an out-of-the-blue surprise. In his seven previous US Open appearances, he had never failed to make the cut. He always had the game for the major.

Now, we know, he also has the ability to see it through.