THIS time, they got it right. The much-vaunted objective of the USGA "not to embarrass but to identify the best players in the world", was realised in the 97th US Open at Congressional CC last weekend. Despite rain delays and overpowering humidity, we got an extremely worthy champion in Ernie Els.

The key to a magnificent championship was the quality of the course which met with universal approval. And failure to master it prompted the more enlightened competitors to do some serious soul-searching.

Tom Lehman, the epitome of honest endeavour and 54-hole leader of the championship for a third successive year, captured those thoughts: "You don't have many chances to win majors on less you're a phenomenal player. I look at Colin Montgomerie and myself and I say `Yes, we should have each won a US Open'."

Then Lehman faced the hitter truth. "I suppose what hurts most is that I must still be lacking something. And Colin is probably having the same thoughts right now.

That is the legacy of Congressional. It is the difficult truth competitors have to face in the wake of the fairest and most searching examination of skill and temperament they are ever likely to experience.

Els knew it from having come through what he described as "the war" of Oakmont three years previously. "In majors, I think my attitude is better than at other times. I may be a little bit more patient with myself and with those around me."

He went on: "I don't push it all that much. I try to put the ball in play and take it from there. If you look at all the great players; if you look at Jack Nicklaus, he had the ability to make it happen. He was calm. He was always in control of his game. That's hard to do, but I'm getting closer to achieving it, particularly at the highest level."

For his part, Montgomerie admits that he's an emotional person and emotional people are more likely to make an ill-judged decision under pressure. Els was aware of this as they played the critical 17th hole, joint leaders of the championship at four under par.

Though he hadn't intended to be hitting first into the green, he knew he could strike a telling blow with the right shot. "I remembered being in a similar situation with Colin in the World Matchplay at Wentworth, where I beat him," said the South African.

"This is one of the toughest tournaments to win, mentally," said Montgomerie, "and Ernie seems to have what it takes." Clearly, the Scot had little control over the order of their shots, but the quality of his opponent's five-iron clearly rattled him. Then he made the mistake of waiting for five minutes over a treacherous five-foot par putt, because of a commotion around the 18th green, only 75 yards away.

Again, Els had the calm control to read the situation perfectly. "You're not going to get 20,000 people quiet when a couple of international boys are leading the US Open," he said. But the Scot insisted on waiting, so increasing the stress on already frayed nerves.

That's the effect a US Open course has on a player after it has waged a battle of attrition for four gruelling rounds. "I think this was the ultimate US Open," said the 1993 champion, Lee Janzen. "The rough was brutal but the course was fair. It was a wonderful test."

Tom Watson, winner in 1982 at Pebble Beach, said: "My impression was that the rough was unusually hard and the greens unusually friendly." While Greg Norman, who missed the cut, said simply: "The course was fantastic."

This was precisely how Darren Clarke described a challenge which he coped with in fits and starts. Had his approach play and short game been as solid as his driving, the Ulsterman could well have realised his ambition to finish in the top 15.

He was, in fact, ranked third in fairways hit, behind Americans Greg Towne and Olin Browne. On the 56 driving holes over the four days, Clarke hit 46 fairways, while Els, Montgomerie and Lehman weren't even in the top 10.

But Els was right up there for greens in regulation, with a return of 52 out of 72. And he also putted admirably, taking an average of 1.63 putts for each of those greens hit in regulation. Even more significant was that he had only 26 putts for the final round compared with 28 from Montgomerie, 30 from Lehman and 35 from the hapless Maggert.

Clarke, meanwhile, is set to receive delivery today of a brand new Ferrari Testarossa with which he rewarded himself after finishing second recently to Ian Woosnam in the Volvo PGA Championship at Wentworth. It's red, naturally. And he's in line for another model from his sponsors, MacGregor, if he wins a major or gains two points in the Ryder Cup

"I feel my career is progressing all the time, though I often get frustrated," he said. "After failing to make the cut at Oakmont and Oakland Hills, this weekend has been something of a break-through. The experience of playing a course of the quality of Congressional is certainly going to help my game."

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods was suitably chastened by the exercise. As things turned out, Montgomerie was proved to be correct when he made the point that the challenge of Congressional would be a vastly different proposition for Woods than the wide-open, 50-yard fairways of Augusta.

"Because I wasn't quite here physically, my mind was tested," he said. "In fact my patience and my grit and every kind of emotion you can conjure up was tested this week. And I think I held up pretty good. But the suffering's over; the golf course beat me up.

Maybe now, this hugely talented young man will be given the chance to be himself. Without wishing him ill, it was frightening to contemplate the sort of situation he would have had to face at Royal Troon next month were he challenging for the third leg of the Grand Slam in the British Open. Now, it becomes simply another major test for a player who is certain to win several.

Finally, of the 16 European challengers in the championship - Costantino Rocca was a late withdrawal with back trouble - 10 made the cut. Of these, however, the only ones, apart from Montgomerie, who could view the test with any degree of satisfaction were Jose-Maria Olazabal (285), Lee Westwood (286), Edward Fryatt (287) and Clarke (290). And of those, Clarke (70) and Fryatt (69) were the only players to equal or better par.

Meanwhile, Els said of his challenge: "I felt comfortable and I felt I had the will to keep going and push it through." His reward was to become only the 17th player to win this title more than once, while the first prize of $465,000 brought his earnings to $689,055 from 12 events in the US this season and to $3,123,029 since he joined the American tour in 1994.