Goosen lapse is Brooks' reprieve

The twists continued right to the end and, like a lesson on the darker side of life, it wasn't pretty.

South Africa's Retief Goosen, who had been the epitome of calmness throughout a final day's cauldron, cracked when least expected - three-putting the final green from 12 feet - to give Mark Brooks a reprieve in the 101st US Open here at Southern Hills.

In the process of packing his bags in the locker room, and like so many others consigned to congratulating Goosen as the new champion and successor to Tiger Woods, Brooks - winner of the US PGA title in 1996 and without a tour win since - was forced to repack after a quite remarkable sequence of putting errors on the 72nd green as, firstly, Stewart Cink three-putted and, then, Goosen, requiring two putts to win, did the same.

"I was ready to go," admitted Brooks, who had also three-putted his final hole to sign for a 70 and a four-under-par total of 276. Goosen, though, appeared to have an easy task of two-putting until unbelievably going cold with the putter and his indiscretion means the two will have to undergo an 18-hole play-off for the title.

"It was a very unfortunate turn of events for the two of them. I thought it was all over. I figured it was all over and I had just started to unpack my locker when it all happened. It's a cruel game at times, you just have to get on with it," added Brooks.

Likewise, it was a stunner for Cink when Goosen missed. Having missed the green with his approach, he chipped out to 20 feet and, having scrapped the hole with his first putt, then decided to putt out from two feet so that Goosen could have the green to himself. He missed, which meant that he finished with a double-bogey that slipped him down to third place.

With Goosen having displayed a calmness that was almost hard to believe throughout the final round, nobody - least of all Cink, who was the only other person on the green - expected him to slip up. He did, in the cruellest manner possible.

"I tried to hit the putt straight and it went right. I don't know why it went right. Tomorrow's another day and I'll just play the game as I've always done," said Goosen, adding: "I'm not happy with what happened on the 18th, but I am not going to jump out of a hotel window. That's golf."

That it developed into a dogfight between Goosen, Brooks and Cink had been one of the day's biggest surprises. Woods, endeavouring to win his fifth straight major, was simply too far behind to make a realistic charge and nobody else made a charge at the three who, in the main, remained calm until the end.

Some of the perceived heavyweights, we found, didn't possess sufficient punch, or even the stomach for a fight. Phil Mickelson's final day tribulations this season have been the stuff of nightmares. In the US Masters a series of missed short putts proved his undoing; at the AT&T in Pebble Beach, on his final hole, he pulled an approach with a driver into the ocean, and at the recent Colonial he missed three putts of less than three feet. Yesterday, a day after his 31st birthday, his hopes died when he three-putted the 13th for the second day running, for a bogey, but the blow was more mortal than that.

Elsewhere, others were crumbling too. Sergio Garcia was effectively cast aside by a front nine that included two bogeys and a double-bogey and no birdies, on his way to a horrendous 77, while David Duval's increasingly slim hopes evaporated with a double-bogey five at the 14th where he needed two attempts to extricate himself from the greenside rough.

And yet, earlier, Tom Kite and Vijay Singh had provided evidence that the course could be conquered. Both players went around in 64 strokes. "One of those rounds that everything fell into place," remarked Kite, whose fireworks enabled him to jump into a top-five position. However, their rounds had been etched out early in the day, under far less pressure than those in actual contention had to cope with. Also, as the day progressed under the hot Oklahoman sun, the greens firmed up and made approach play ever more important.

As someone who has been in that pressure situation more than anyone in recent years, Woods could empathise with the way players almost lurched over the finishing line. "I don't think people really understand how difficult it is, and the stress it causes coming down the back nine on a Sunday. More times than not, it wears you out."

That certainly happened to the leading trio. Brooks seemed to have blown his chances when, having found the centre of the green, he three-putted. In effect, he handed the initiative to both Goosen, who was joined on five-under when Cink rolled in a birdie putt on the 17th.

And, when both players in the final pairing found the fairway on the last, Brooks headed towards the locker-room. Cink, then, contrived to miss the green left with his approach and, when Goosen's approach from 171 yards settled 12 feet from the pin, it was in his own hands to win - or lose, as it transpired.

Cink's recovery shot was left short and then his putt for par skinned the hole and he missed the one back. Goosen, with two to win, fouled up . . . but at least gets the chance to reprieve himself in the play-off. "Was there an upside to what has happened you?" he was asked. "Yes," he replied, " I could have missed the third one."

For the two Irish players, it was a disappointing final round. Darren Clarke, with a final round 71, and Padraig Harrington, who had a 74, finished in tied-30th position on eight-over-par 288.