Tiger Woods, in agony and in danger it seemed of having to pull out of the US Open last Friday, completed a simply staggering victory on Monday.
On the very day he reached 500 weeks as world number one, Woods took his total of majors to 14 - just four short of Jack Nicklaus's record - after a marathon duel with fellow American Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines.
After staying alive with a 15-foot putt on Sunday Woods again birdied the last to stop 45-year-old qualifier Mediate becoming the championship's oldest winner.
They were both round in level par 71s as a result, Mediate having come from three down after 10 to lead by one on the final tee.
Woods then won his own version of the "Battle of Wounded Knee" when his opponent, ranked 158th in the world, bogeyed the first extra hole of sudden death. Their 91st of the week.
In his first event since surgery on his left knee straight after the Masters in April, Woods made it a remarkable five straight victories at the San Diego venue and took his on-course career earnings through the 100 million US dollars mark.
If not the greatest victory of all the 87 he has now had as a professional, it was certainly the most unlikely when he started with a double bogey and appeared miles short of full fitness.
His play-off record now, though, is a stunning 16-3 - and, of course, he has maintained his record of winning every single major he has led after 54 holes. All 14 of them, that is.
After Woods, battling as he had all week with the pain in his left knee, had bogeyed the 11th and 12th Mediate birdied the next three and went one ahead.
The last of those was with a 25-foot downhill putt after the 13-major winner had conjured up a magical recovery from a bunker on the wrong hole.
Woods, having missed from 12 feet there, almost made a 50-footer on the next and could not convert a 22-foot chance at the 17th.
Mediate, though, opened the door by driving into a bunker on the last. He had to lay up short of the water, whereas twice champion Woods hit a three-iron onto the green and two-putted.
Sudden death began on the seventh hole and there it ended as well when Mediate was in a bunker, missed the green and failed to get up and down.
Collated final round scores in the US Open, Torrey Pines GC, San Diego, California, United States of America (USA unless stated, par 71):
Woods won play-off at 19th hole after both players had carded 71.
283 Tiger Woods 72 68 70 73, Rocco Mediate 69 71 72 71
284 Lee Westwood (Eng) 70 71 70 73
286 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 70 70 75 71, D.J. Trahan 72 69 73 72
287 John Merrick 73 72 71 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 75 66 74 72, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 71 77 68
288 Eric Axley 69 79 71 69, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 73 72 74, Camilo Villegas (Col) 73 71 71 73, Brandt Snedeker 76 73 68 71, Heath Slocum 75 74 74 65
289 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 74 70 75 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 72 74 73, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 76 69 77 67, Stewart Cink 72 73 77 67
290 Phil Mickelson 71 75 76 68, Hunter Mahan 72 74 69 75, Chad Campbell 77 72 71 70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 76 70 70 74, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 72 73 75, Mike Weir (Can) 73 74 69 74, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 74 75 70 71, Brandt Jobe 73 75 69 73
291 Anthony Kim 74 75 70 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 73 73 75 70, Boo Weekley 73 76 70 72
292 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 74 73 71 74, Patrick Sheehan 71 74 74 73, Steve Stricker 73 76 71 72, Michael Thompson 74 73 73 72, Bart Bryant 75 70 78 69, Jeff Quinney 79 70 70 73, Scott Verplank 72 72 74 74
293 Pat Perez 75 73 75 70, Oliver Wilson (Eng) 72 71 74 76, Robert Dinwiddie (Eng) 73 71 75 74, Joe Ogilvie 71 76 73 73, Andres Romero (Arg) 71 73 77 72, Todd Hamilton 74 74 73 72, Jon Mills (Can) 72 75 75 71, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 75 75 70, Justin Leonard 75 72 75 71, Jim Furyk 74 71 73 75, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 69 70 79 75, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 78 67 77 71
294 Dustin Johnson 74 72 75 73, John Rollins 75 68 79 72, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 75 74 74 71, Matt Kuchar 73 73 76 72, Tim Clark (Rsa) 73 72 74 75
295 Ben Crane 75 72 77 71, Davis Love III 72 69 76 78, Soren Hansen (Den) 78 70 76 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 75 70 73 77, Kevin Streelman 68 77 78 72
296 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 72 75 76, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 74 77 71
297 Nick Watney 73 75 77 72, Brett Quigley 73 72 77 75, David Toms 76 72 72 77, Alastair Forsyth (Sco) 76 73 74 74, Rickie Fowler 70 79 76 72
298 Paul Casey (Eng) 79 70 76 73, Vijay Singh (Fij) 71 78 76 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 73 72 78, John Mallinger 73 75 78 72
299 D.A. Points 74 71 77 77, Derek Fathauer 73 73 78 75
300 Woody Austin 72 72 77 79, Andrew Dresser 76 73 79 72, Andrew Svoboda 77 71 74 78
301 Justin Hicks 68 80 75 78, Ian Leggatt (Can) 72 76 76 77, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 77 72 77 75
303 Ross McGowan (Eng) 76 72 78 77
304 Chris Kirk 75 74 78 77, Rich Beem 74 74 80 76
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