Tiger Woods won the US PGA Championship yesterday, but only after being given the fight of his life in the steamy heat at Southern Hills. Nobody ever had it so hot in Oklahoma, a state where the temperature often rises over the 100F (38C) mark. Woods repelled the twin challenges of Woody Austin, 43, a Florida-born professional from Kansas who has three victories on tour in the United States to his credit, and Ernie Els, the 2002 Open champion, who fought Woods every step of the round.

When Woods walked up the hill to the 72nd green, he took off his cap and waved it to the gathered spectators. With his cap off, he suddenly looked older than 31. His brow was coated with sweat. He knew he had been in a struggle. The heat, the demands of the handsome old course had got under his skin even if in his hour of victory, even as he walked towards his thirteenth professional major championship title, his opponents had not.

Woods had claimed his fourth win in this, the last of the year’s four major championships. With the triumph he had turned a good year into a great year. His definition of a good year is one in which he wins multiple tournaments. His definition of a great year is when those tournament victories include one or more major championships. “They’re the ones that count,” Woods said. “They’re the yardstick.” Never far from Wood’s sights is Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 professional major championship titles.

Woods did that with as determined a demonstration of will and skill as he has ever given. His last round was a 69 for a total of 272. Though the margin of victory was only two strokes over Austin, who had a 67 for 274, six under par, Woods allowed his two opponents to get only so close and no closer.

Els’s last round of 66 brought him arguably the closest he has come to winning a major since 2004, when he finished second at the Masters and the Open. Having begun the day one under par, six strokes behind Woods, he had closed to within two strokes by the 14th.

Els’s swing has looked much the same these past few years, smooth and effortless, but since he injured his left knee in a water skiing accident a little over two years ago, it has not been quite the machine that it was before the accident. Els’s putting has on occasion deserted him, too. There was no such trouble for the South African on the fast greens yesterday. He holed from 40 feet, 15 feet and 50 feet for birdies on the 3rd, 5th and 8th. Two strokes were as close as he got, however, a bogey after a bad drive on the 16th effectively ending his chances.

Austin mounted a remarkable challenge for a man who has never finished in the top ten of a major championship. He seeemd impervious to the aura that is said to surround Woods and, playing shamelessly to the gallery whenever he birdied a hole or sank a long putt, he was five behind Woods after the 7th, three behind after the 11th, two behind after the 14th. Just as Els ran out of holes, however, so did Austin.

Woods kept his driver sheathed, using a long iron for many of his tee-shots. He won this championship as long ago as Friday, when he played a remarkable round of 63, equalling the course and championship record. After that, even the professionals were saying to one another: “It’s over.”

A 64 by Simon Dyson had brought the championship to life. It was the right score by the wrong man. The right score meaning the total was that required for someone to stand a chance of catching Woods and ending his run of always winning the major championships he was leading after 54 holes.

But Dyson was far too far behind to be the right man to do it. Starting at 9.40am, he finished at 12.50pm, 70 minutes before Woods had begun. Impressive as a score containing seven birdies, one bogey and ten pars was, it took him only to level par, seven strokes behind Woods.

Dyson finished in the top ten, however, and as this was the first US PGA Championship in which he had played, the second major championship on this side of the Atlantic and only the seventh major championship in all — and his previous best finish was 34th in the Open at Hoylake — he had considerable cause for celebration.

“It was a dream come true,” Dyson said. He looked as cool as a cucumber, as well he might. Though a Yorkshireman who was born in York, he made his name by moving to the Far East, where he won three tournaments in 2000. “I always thought my best chance of doing well in a major would be the Open because obviously I have played a lot of links golf,” he said.

Colin Montgomerie, paired with Phil Mickelson in the final round, enjoyed a competitive tussle to record the lower score. Montgomerie went to the turn in 33, two strokes better than Mickelson, and despite starting one stroke behind the American, it looked as if the Scot would outdo his playing partner until Montgomerie ran up a five and a six on the last two holes, both par-fours. Mickelson went round in 69 to finish on 286, six over par, Montgomerie in 70 for a 288.