Tiger Woods was taken the distance by Rocco Mediate before he was able to lift the US Open crown for a third time at sun-kissed Torrey Pines last night. It was his fourteenth major championship and moved him to within four of the record held by Jack Nicklaus. In what had started off as a victory parade for the world No 1 - many thought he had only to turn up to beat his 45-year-old friend and journeyman professional - turned into a battle royale as Mediate, who had been three strokes behind after ten holes, led by one coming to the last.

Mediate even had a putt for a birdie at the 18th that would have sealed a famous victory. But when he missed, and Woods birdied himself, the play-off moved into sudden death. Against Tiger, you only get one chance - and Mediate’s had gone.

Taken back to the par-four 7th, Mediate found a bunker off the tee, hit a grandstand with his second, took a free drop and could do no better than a five at a hole that Woods played in regulation.

Woods, who had limped through most of the week and could barely believe his good fortune, said: “That was unbelievable. Rocco played some great golf and all credit to him. I’m glad it’s done. I don’t feel like playing any more.”

For his part, Mediate was proud, yet disappointed. “I think I had him scared at one point,” he said. “But he’s so hard to beat. Three down through ten, I thought it was going to be over.” He might have looked twitchy standing over the ball at the 1st, but Mediate had said before play began that “win or lose, this is going to be the greatest day of my golfing life”. And so it proved.

It was tempting to think that Woods would just pull away at his leisure. He found the fairway at the 1st for the first time in five rounds - raising his hands above his head in mock celebration - and went one shot ahead when Mediate missed a relatively straightforward par putt from about six feet.

The huge galleries were with Mediate all the way. And how they cheered when he took the lead at the par-three 3rd. With Woods’s ball plugged near the back lip of the bunker fronting the green, Mediate fired an exquisite iron straight at the flag and watched as it landed five feet short and rolled just past the hole when it looked to all the world as if it was going to go in.

Woods failed to get down in two from the bunker, however, and Mediate, with a two-shot swing, walked to the 4th tee leading by a stroke. By this stage, he was in his element. Even when he bogeyed the 5th to go back to one over par and level with Woods, he found time to smile - at one point lifting his sweater to show his “Ban the Bomb” belt buckle.

Yet when Woods went ahead with a birdie at the 6th, courtesy of a brilliant approach shot, and then moved further ahead with another from about 12 feet at the next, most believed that the world No 1 would pull away.

In reality, Woods was not at his best. The grimace from pain in his left knee - one that was operated on only nine weeks earlier - that had followed many of his tee shots over the previous four days, was mostly absent. He was walking with greater ease, but was prone to mistakes.

Even so, when he reached the turn in 35, with two birdies and two bogeys (another had followed at the 8th), it would have been a brave man that put money on Mediate, who had gone out in 37. And when Woods extended his lead to three strokes at the 10th, after his opponent’s second bogey on the trot, it was tempting to think that his rival had been read his last rites.

And yet Woods was continuing to make mistakes. In his first 12 holes, he reached only four greens in regulation and went into bunkers at five successive holes from the 8th.