Campbell - no two-horse race. (Getty Images)

Some people are predicting that this is the week when the final major of the season switches back from stroke play to match play, the way it was from 1916 until 1958.

They believe that on a par-70 Baltusrol course with two par fours over 500 yards and the longest hole in major history (the 650-yard 17th) Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh will have too much power and too much talent for the rest of the USPGA Championship field.

They could be right. But that is not the way Michael Campbell sees it.

Woods, of course, has finished first, second, first in the Masters, US Open and Open, while Singh has come fifth, sixth, fifth - and is this week's defending champion.

They were also first and second the last time they played, with the Fijian taking the honours on that occasion.

But Campbell, the only player who has beaten Woods in the majors this year, stated: "I would not say it is a two-horse race.

"I think it is anyone's game. Obviously Tiger is the favourite, but I showed to the rest of the world that he can be beaten.

"I managed to knock him off his pedestal for a week."

And the New Zealander hopes he might be able to do it again now that he has consigned Pinehurst to history.

"I had to leave behind thinking about winning the US Open," he commented. "If you think about the past too much you forget about the present and future."

Closing the most thrilling episode in his career came when Campbell and his family finally flew back to his homeland after the Open.

"We had a ticker-tape parade and 130,000 people turned up. It was an incredible reception and in doing that it was finishing one chapter and starting another.

"I think some players sometimes are very happy with one major championship, but I want more. I want to be a multiple winner.

"Coming fifth in the Open was a huge step for me because it just proved a point that two months ago was not a fluke."

He still did not get close to Woods, though, and the world number one would be going for an unprecedented grand slam this week but for some poor putting at Pinehurst.

At St Andrews, Woods, ahead from start to finish, was at his majestic best and after being challenged by Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal he went away in the end to win by five.

The performance reminded everybody of the way he dominated the scene in 2000. And when asked to compare then and now Woods went through every part of his game.

"I would have to say my iron play is probably better now. My driving is not probably as good, but I am hitting it 20 to 30 yards further, my short game is better and my putting is just as good - but it has been sporadic this year.

"The drive is still the same to go out and win, to put myself there and hopefully come out on top. That has not changed."

He is now on 10 majors, with eight more needed to match Jack Nicklaus' record and if more courses are set up like Baltusrol it might not be that long before he gets there.

"I don't see why they won't continue making the courses longer, just because the guys are going to continue to hit it further," he said.

"It's just kind of the nature of the game. There is a speed limit on the (clubhead) faces and on the balls, but we seem every year to find something a little bit faster and a little bit longer.

"Granted guys are giving up a lot on the greens by going to harder balls to hit it further, but that is how the game has changed.

"It's not relying upon spin around the greens any more. It's about distance off the tees."