Micheel completes quartet of new major winners

A shot he will remember for the rest of his life has made American Shaun Micheel the latest little-known golfer to win a major…

A shot he will remember for the rest of his life has made American Shaun Micheel the latest little-known golfer to win a major title.

Micheel (34) from Orlando won the United States PGA championship at Oak Hill last night when he struck a 174-yard seven-iron to within three inches of the final hole.

Micheel, 169th in the world rankings, lifted the trophy just four weeks after compatriot Ben Curtis, 396th-ranked at the time, became Open champion atSandwich.

It means that for the first time since 1969 a season has seen four new major winners. Mike Weir took the Masters in April and Jim Furyk the US Open in June.

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A delighted, but stunned Micheel, who like Curtis had never previously won a US Tour event, admitted: "When I practised on Tuesday and saw how difficult the course was I was just trying to make the cut.

"I probably would have been happy with that. I can't believe this - I'm thrilled".

His level par closing round of 70 for a four under aggregate made him the winner of the £675,000 first prize by two from Chad Campbell, with South African Tim Clark third and German Alex Cejka fourth.

Micheel becomes the first man to win on his US PGA debut since John Daly in 1991. He was previously best known for diving into water and rescuing an elderly couple from a sinking car 10 years ago.