Woods' major lesson as good as sport gets

Tiger Woods heads for Firestone this week with another title to defend, after his astonishing victory in the USPGA Championship at Valhalla last Sunday. But he won't be renewing rivalry with Bob May, who, not being a member of the US Ryder Cup or President's Cup teams, is ineligible for the limited-field $5 million NEC Invitational.

At 24, Woods has become the youngest winner of five major championships, breaking yet another record held by his idol, Jack Nicklaus, who was 26 when he reached that milestone. And an American analyst has now put the odds against him winning the modern Grand Slam next year at 100 to one, having previously assessed anyone's chances at no better than 5,000,000 to one.

May, meanwhile, has become a hero to those who marvelled at his fortitude in forcing a riveting play-off before bowing eventually to the world number one. It had been the most testing experience of his career and he handled it wonderfully well.

"I've never played so much golf in all my life," he remarked. "I woke up fresh Sunday morning but felt like I played golf all night."

His parents smiled proudly while accepting the congratulations of admirers and new-found friends as they left Louisville Airport yesterday morning. "People don't know very much about him because he's such a good kid," said his father, Jerry. "There's nothing bad to write about him. But they know who he is now."

As it happened, May enhanced the European challenge in the event, insofar as he has been a regular campaigner in Europe since 1996, gaining a breakthrough victory in the British Masters at Woburn last year. Thomas Bjorn was third, Jose-Maria Olazabal fourth and Ireland's Darren Clarke was among those sharing ninth place.

"European golf went through a period when we had five or six world-class players such as Seve, Nick Faldo and Sandy Lyle," said Bjorn. "Now there are a lot of new faces and younger players who have appeared in majors for the last three or four years.

"They're getting used to the challenge. As a group, we haven't won any but we are getting up there and competing."

Bjorn's observations certainly apply to Darren Clarke, who completed a personal grand slam on Sunday in that he has now achieved top-10 finishes in all four major championships. Though he played only moderately by his standards in second and third rounds of level par, Clarke always looked comfortable at Valhalla in the knowledge that he is more than capable of competing at the highest level.

With Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley, he will give Ireland a strong presence at Firestone this week.

Given the proximity of Churchill Downs, which is home to the Kentucky Derby and all that that entails, it was hardly surprising that local scribes should have been championing the cause of a real race for the USPGA title, rather than another Woods procession. Their reaction to the thrilling events of Sunday was quite interesting.

One of them wrote: "Around here, we're fond of saying that the Kentucky Derby is the greatest two minutes in sport. But in its 208 years, the old commonwealth has never seen an athletic competition to equal the five-hour, 21-hole duel that Tiger Woods and Bob May staged."

Describing it as "splendour in the Bluegrass", the writer declared it "the greatest sporting performance Kentucky has ever seen". Who could have imagined such a gentle pursuit as golf relegating equine excellence among the also-rans?

There was also much local rejoicing over what they saw as a total vindication of Valhalla's right to stage the Ryder Cup in 2007 when, it is hoped, the Americans will be attempting to win back the trophy captured by Europe at The K Club two years previously. "Valhallalujah" proclaimed a multipurpose headline.

Nick Faldo, whose major haul is now only one ahead of Woods's five, warned that the man of the moment is "just warming up. "If Tiger keeps going to the golf course and keeps concentrating, then everyone else is in serious trouble," said the Englishman.

Unless, of course, they acquire the competitive courage displayed by Clarke at La Costa last February and by the marvellous May on Sunday.