Nick Faldo - five-shot winner (Allsport).

Nick Faldo staked his claim to be Britain's greatest golfer when he won his second Open title at St Andrews.

The whole championship hinged on a sensational Saturday when Faldo was paired with his great rival Greg Norman at the end of the field.

Both players had played superbly on the first two days in glorious weather to head the championship on 132, four shots clear of the field.

Ian Baker-Finch tore through the field on the third day with a sensational 64 but all the attention was focussed on the last pairing, the two greatest golfers in the world.

It was to prove a day of contrasting fortunes.

Faldo started like a man possessed. He peppered the first two pins, picked up a birdie while Norman three-putted the second and the contest was almost over.

Faldo went on to complete an immaculate 67 to take a five-stroke lead into the final round.

Norman collapsed to a nightmare 76 after coming back in a torrid 40.

Payne Stewart threw down a challenge, moving into second place on Saturday night after a third successive 68.

Australian Craig Parry was one shot further back after a third-round 69 while Englishman Paul Broadhurst blazed up the field after a tournament-best 63.

But one of the leaders needed to produce something similar on the final day to disturb Faldo's march to glory.

Nobody did. Mark McNulty produced the best final-day effort with a 65 but he had opened the event with a 74 and was coming from too far back.

Faldo's two closest pursuers, Baker-Finch and Stewart, shot 73 and 71 respectively and the hero was April's US Masters was left almost uncahllenged on route to his second 'major' of the season.

Stewart did register four birdies ion the opening 12 holes to get within two of Faldo but then fell away.

Faldo played as consistently as he had done back in 1987 when taking his first Open crown at Muirfield.

He compiled nine straight pars from the sixth onwards and then added a bride at the 15th after a typical radar-like iron to within 10 feet.

The final margin was five shots and an ecstatic Faldo paid a glowing tribute to all his Scottish supporters afterwards.

Collated final in the 119th Open golf championship at the Old Course, St Andrews (GB and Ire unless stated):

(x) denotes amateur

270 N Faldo (GB) 67 65 67 71 (£85,000)

275 M McNulty (Zim) 74 68 68 65, P Stewart (US) 68 68 68 71 (£60,000 each)

276 J Mudd (US) 72 66 72 66, I Woosnam 68 69 70 69 (£40,000 each)

277 G Norman (Aus) 66 66 76 69, I Baker-Finch (Aus) 68 72 64 73 (£28,500 each)

279 D Graham (Aus) 72 71 70 66, S Pate (US) 70 68 72 69, D Hammond (US) 70 71 68 70, C Pavin (US) 71 69 68 71 (£22,000 each)

280 V Singh (Fiji) 70 69 72 69, R Gamez (US) 70 72 67 71, T Simpson 70 69 69 72, P Broadhurst 74 69 63 74 (£16,375 each)

281 M Roe 71 70 72 68, S Jones (US) 72 67 72 70, JM Olazabal (Sp) 71 67 71 72, S Lyle 72 70 67 72, P Jacobsen (US) 68 70 70 73. F Nobilo (NZ) 72 67 68 74 (£11,150 each)

282 E Darcy 71 71 72 68, J Spence 72 65 73 72, C Parry (Aus) 68 68 69 77 (£7,933 each)

283 L Trevino (US) 69 70 73 71, C O'Connor Jr 68 72 71 72 (£6,383), F Couples (US) 71 70 70 72, J Rivero (Sp) 70 70 70 73, N Price (Zim) 70 67 71 75 (£6,383 each)

284 R Rafferty 70 71 73 70, L Mize (US) 71 72 70 71, M James 73 69 70 72, M McCumber (US) 69 74 69 72, G Powers 74 69 69 72, B Crenshaw (US) 74 69 68 73, B Norton 71 72 68 73, V Fernandez (Arg) 72 67 69 76 (£5,125 each)

285 N Ozaki (Jap) 71 71 74 69, A North (US) 71 71 72 71, R Floyd (US) 72 71 71 71, D Pooley (US) 70 73 71 71, S Torrance 68 70 75 72, D Cooper 72 71 69 73, S Simpson (US) 73 70 69 73, M Reid (US) 70 67 73 75, M Hulbert (US) 70 70 70 75 (£4,216 each)

286 B Langer (Ger) 74 69 75 68, C Montgomerie 72 69 74 71, M O'Meara (US) 70 69 73 74, P Fowler (Aus) 73 68 71 74, P Azinger (US) 73 68 68 77 (£3,720 each)

287 H Irwin (US) 72 68 75 72, J Bland (SA) 71 72 72 72, E Romero (Arg) 69 71 74 73, M Allen 66 75 73 73 (£3,475 each)

288 J Rutledge 71 69 76 72, M Clayton (Aus) 72 71 72 72, B McAllister (US) 71 68 75 74, D Mijovic (Can) 69 74 71 74, D Ray 71 69 73 75, A Sorenson (Den) 70 68 71 79 (£3,225 each)

289 J Nicklaus (US) 71 70 77 71, P Baker 73 68 75 73, R Chapman 72 70 74 73, M Poxon 68 72 74 75, D Canipe 72 70 69 78 (£2,950 each)

290 D Feherty 74 69 71 76, J Berendt (Arg) 75 66 72 77 (£2,775 each)

291 A Saavedra 72 69 75 75 (£2,700 each)

292 M Mackenzie 70 71 76 75 (£2,700 each)

296 JM Canizares 72 70 78 76 (£2,700 each)