Colin Montgomerie took absolutely zero comfort in the fact that nobody in world golf hits the ball better than he does at the moment.

It was not enough to bring the 32-year-old Scot his first major title at the US Open at Oakland Hills.

In fact, by the end it did not even leave him close.

The championship was won instead by the unlikely figure of Steve Jones, an American qualifier who had come through a play-off just to get a place and had gone into the event ranked 100th in the world.

Montgomerie, two off the lead before double-bogeying the short 13th, finished five behind in joint 10th place.

His anger and frustration at letting another major he could have won get away was clear for all to see as he paused briefly to talk to reporters, then marched into the clubhouse without a backward glance, leaving his wife Eimear struggling to keep pace with him."I got only the first one right.

"I led the statistics on hitting fairways and greens by a mile. Nobody played better tee to green than I did. That's what makes it so very disappointing."

It was exactly the same story at the US PGA championhip last August.

Montgomerie got into a play-off there with Steve Elkington after having 14 more putts than the Australian - and Elkington won by draining a 25-footer on the first extra hole.

Montgomerie, who also lost a play-off for the 1994 US Open, will be determined to make amends at the Open at Royal Lytham in four weeks' time.

But he knows that the Lancashire links do not play into his hands as much as Oakland Hills did.

He was not the only one thinking of what might have been, however, as the 37-year-old Jones, inspired by the Bible and a book by Ben Hogan, celebrated the biggest moment of his life.

Davis Love, a rival to Montgomerie for the unwanted title of "best current player not to have won a major," missed a two-foot putt on the last to finish one behind and Ryder Cup partner Tom Lehman bogeyed it as well to be joint second.

Love, who had also dropped a shot at the 17th, remembered afterwards that his first American tour win came when Jones went out of bounds at the final hole. But there was no repeat of that this time.

A huge drive and equally massive seven-iron at the 465-yard 18th - the most monstrous hole on a course 1951 winner Hogan dubbed "The Monster" - left him 10 feet from the flag and when Lehman, unlucky to drive into a bunker, missed from 12 feet Jones had two for it.

"I only just touched the first putt and it still ran a foot past," he said.

"I'm glad it wasn't two feet - I don't know where it would have gone.

"Every boy dreams of holing a putt to win the US Open and to do it is the thrill of a lifetime."

His closing 69 gave him a two under par total of 278, the best score achieved in the six times Oakland Hills has staged the championship.

It was Jones's first victory for seven years.

He won three times in 1989 and was eighth in the money list that season, but in 1991 his career was threatened when he was badly injured in the Arizona desert riding what the Americans call dirt-bikes.

In a 40mph crash he dislocated his left shoulder and right ankle and, most worryingly considering his profession, sustained ligament and joint damage to his left ring finger.

It was nearly three years before he could swing a club properly again and even now he is still getting used to a change to a reverse overlapping grip, which eases the pressure on the weakened finger.

Jones had not played in the US Open since his accident and a fortnight ago shot 74 in the second qualifying round in Ohio.

Only by getting up and down from off the green at the last hole did he get into a play-off, but he came through that - and the rest is now history.

Amazingly, John Morse was in that same play-off and went on to finish fourth this weekend.

Next best Europeans were Sam Torrance and Masters champion Nick Faldo in joint 16th place.

Torrance started the final round alongside Montgomerie in sixth spot, but fell out of contention early on and finished with a 74.

Faldo's hopes of back-to-back majors went when he finished his third round with a double bogey to be seven adrift. His closing level par 70 was his best round of the week and, having done well at Lytham in the past, he is bound to be heavily backed there next month.

He has decided not to enter the Irish or Scottish Opens in the fortnight before, preferring to stay fresh and prepare in his own way.

Final collated scores and totals (US unless stated; (x) denotes amateurs)

278 S Jones 74 66 69 69 (wins £285,000)

279 D Love 71 69 70 69, T Lehman 71 72 65 71 (£136,500 each)

280 J Morse 68 74 68 70 (£74,157)

281 E Els (SA) 72 67 72 70, J Furyk 72 69 70 70 (£56,143 each)

282 S Hoch 73 71 71 67, V Singh (Fiji) 71 72 70 71, K Green 73 67 72 70 (£44,196 each)

283 L Janzen 68 75 71 69, G Norman (Aus) 73 66 74 70, C Montgomerie (GB) 70 72 69 72

284 D Forsman 72 71 70 71 T Watson 70 71 71 72, F Nobilo (NZ) 69 71 70 74

285 N Faldo (GB) 72 71 72 70, D Berganio 69 72 72 72, M Brooks 76 68 69 72, M O'Meara 72 73 68 72, J Cook 70 71 71 73, S Cink 69 73 70 73, S Torrance (GB) 71 69 71 74

286 B Bryant 73 71 74 68, P Jacobsen 71 74 70 71, B Andrade 72 69 72 73, W Austin 67 72 72 75

287 C Strange 74 73 71 69, P Jordan 71 74 72 70, J Nicklaus 72 74 69 72, P Stewart 67 71 76 73, J Daly 72 69 73 73

288 M Swartz 72 72 74 70, T Purtzer 76 71 71 70, B Mayfair 72 71 74 71, B Ogle (Aus) 70 75 72 71, S Gotsche 72 70 74 72, M Campbell (NZ) 70 73 73 72, A Forsbrand (Swe) 74 71 71 72, S Murphy 71 75 68 74

289 L Parsons (Aus) 75 71 73 70, J Lewis 76 69 73 71, B Ford 69 77 72 71, W Riley (Aus) 73 69 74 73, S Elkington (Aus) 72 70 74 73, T Tolles 77 68 71 73, C Pavin 73 70 72 74, K Triplett 70 73 72 74, L Roberts 72 73 69 75

290 W Westner (SA) 72 75 74 69, B Gilder 73 72 75 70, K Perry 73 71 75 71, J Sluman 70 74 74 72, J Gullion 73 72 73 72, H Irwin 72 71 73 74, M Bradley 71 74 71 74, A Cejka (Ger) 74 70 72 74, K Gibson 71 73 71 75, J Leonard 71 76 67 76

291 S Stricker 74 71 75 71, S Lowery 73 74 73 71, W Murchison 76 68 74 73, (x) R Leen 77 71 70 73, D Gilford (GB) 74 69 74 74, D Harrington 75 71 71 74

292 D Duval 75 72 75 70, J Morse 68 74 68 70, P Azinger 69 74 78 71, F Lickliter 75 71 73 73, M Ozaki (Jap) 69 72 77 74, C Rocca (Italy) 71 74 73 74, W Grady (Aus) 71 75 72 74, D Ogrin 72 74 72 74, P O'Malley (Aus) 75 73 70 74, C Byrum 70 76 71 75, J Gallagher 71 72 73 76, B Tway 72 75 68 77

293 (x) T Kuehne 79 69 73 72, M Christie 72 75 72 74, I Woosnam (GB) 72 72 74 75

294 (x) T Woods 76 69 77 72, J Huston 73 72 76 73, S Kendall 77 71 73 73, S Jones 74 66 69 73, S McCarron 72 72 75 75, T Kite 76 71 72 75, B Faxon 70 72 76 76, N Lancaster 74 67 74 79

295 C Parry (Aus) 70 76 75 74, J Sanchez 71 76 74 74, J O'Keefe 72 71 76 76, J Haas 73 72 74 76

296 A Rodriguez 71 77 76 72, T Pernice 74 72 74 76

296 P Mickelson 76 71 73 76

297 J Maggert 75 69 81 72, J Thorpe 75 71 78 73, B McCallister 71 75 76 75, P Walton (Ire) 69 73 78 77

298 O Uresti 76 72 74 76, O Browne 73 70 76 79

299 G Trivisonno 69 75 78 77, S Simpson 70 71 76 72

300 M Wiebe 74 74 75 77

301 S Scott 71 73 81 76, R Yokota 79 67 76 79

302 M Burke 78 70 77 77

309 S Kelly 73 75 79 82