In the end it turned into something of a procession just as it had five years ago and no doubt just as it will again.

But for all that it was a privilege to follow in the footsteps of greatness as Woods lifted the Old Claret Jug at St Andrews for the second time, his second major of the year and the 10th of his career.

At the moment of victory, after Woods had holed the final putt to finish on 14 under par and claim the 134th Open by a 'mere' five shots, three less than last time here, he received hugs from caddie Steve Williams, mum Kutilda and a kiss from wife Elin.

But there's no doubt he also embraced history.

Now only two golfers stand before him and his statistical place as the greatest golfer ever to wield a club.

One is Walter Hagen who garnered 11 major championships.

The other is Jack Nicklaus, now retired from competitive golf but whose 18 majors are still some way on the horizon.

But more weeks such as the last at St Andrews, when Woods has reasserted his domination of the sport, and the Nicklaus record will soon be in Woods's grasp.

More than that. Woods surely is now on his way to joining an elite club of sporting legends which includes Carl Lewis, Jesse Owens and Don Bradman. And, yes, quite possibly the greatest of them all, Muhammad Ali.

Some might say his dominance took the dramatic edge away from the Open's final straight and the galleries did become noticeably quieter as the inevitable outcome began to sink in a good hour-and-a-half before the end.

Yet a sporting genius at work is never boring and it is hardly Woods's fault that the others were found wanting.

While acclaiming Woods, however, spare a thought for Colin Montgomerie, who at various points in the early throes of his final round came close to threatening the Major which denies his career the badge of greatness.

How Monty tried. How Monty's fans tried to sweep him around the Old Course on a magic carpet of affection.

That he came second for the fourth time in a major was not a time for recrimination, but for pride.

He had come up just short after one of the most traumatic 12 months of his life and against the greatest player in the world, just as he had reminded us all week was the fate of American tennis player Andy Roddick against Roger Federer at Wimbledon.

Sometimes it happens. Monty gave his best this week. It was magnificent. It was not good enough only because he was faced with a player who, to re-work Bobby Jones's famous phrase, plays a game with which the rest are not familiar.

Woods, you see, has never lost a major when leading going into the last round. That capacity to deal with pressure is the key to his success, perhaps even more than the talent of his shot-making.

He grinds down the opposition with his relentless consistency, scrambling saves equally as impressive as his ability to shoot birdies.

Not that it was a spectacular start from Woods who parred the first four holes while Olazabal and Montgomerie edged closer with early birdies.

The first Tiger birdie, however, arrived at the 568 yards par five and the relief was obvious from the spring in his stride as he walked to the sixth tee.

Even someone with Woods's mental fortitude requires a steadying influence sometimes.

It was never vintage Tiger, mostly because the heat had gone out of the putter which had served him so well over the first two days.

Birdie putts of five and four feet slipped by at the seventh and eighth. The brow was just a little furrowed and with a Monty birdie at nine bringing the deficit to just one shot as the man from Troon negotiated the turn, the Scottish hearts began to race just that much quicker.

Woods, however, loves a challenge, relishes testing himself under the severest of pressure.

It arrived in spades when he found himself under the face of the pot bunker guarding the 380-yards 10th.

Even the world's best player has to take his medicine under such circumstances and Woods duly did, hacking out sideways and suffering his first bogey of the day.

The lead should have been back to one except that Montgomerie missed his 10-foot par putt at 10. Maybe that was the reason for Tiger's huge smile. He was enjoying the thrill of battle.

There were pivotal moments after that, especially at 12 where Woods holed a four-foot birdie putt while Olazabal bogeyed at the same moment Montgomerie was also missing a par putt a hole ahead.

The lead was back to four.

It went to five when he rolled in another birdie putt at the 14th and we began to wonder whether he might eclipse the eight-shot winning margin of five years ago. He didn't quite make that but still history was made on an afternoon when the saltires fluttered wildly for Montgomerie and the mind boggled at the sight of Nick Faldo holing 70-foot eagle putts and Bernhard Langer motoring up the leaderboard.

And if it all rather fizzled out as a contest then Woods can hardly be blamed for that.

Instead, let's savour the enduring march of a legend.