GOLF:On the 18th green at Southern Hills yesterday, not long after Tiger Woods had teed off in the final round of the 89th US PGA championship in what was expected to be a red-carpet coronation to his 13th major championship title, a greenkeeper produced a cameo performance that elicited one of the loudest roars of the day. Having used a hose to drench the thirsty greens, he then turned the spray on the gallery to cool them down.

The roar, though, was soon matched by similar vibrations from all around the course, as Woods - seeking to do what he had done in all 12 of his major wins, to win from the front - answered the challenge set down by Ernie Els.

The South African, although starting out six shots adrift, had by then emerged as the most likely challenger to the world's number one.

It was, to be sure, hot stuff that more than matched the sweltering temperatures, with the heat index, a combination of temperature and humidity, rising as high as 108 degrees.

Although the Irish challenge melted over the weekend - with Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington finishing with 74s for 288, eight over, and Paul McGinley concluding with a 76 for 191, 11 over - yesterday's final was all about a runaway Tiger who was aiming to close in on the record haul of 18 majors held by Jack Nicklaus. Except, Els made it less of a runaway and more of a true chase.

On another hot and steamy day in Oklahoma, those in closest pursuit of Woods at the start of the day were given some encouragement by the final round 64 shot by England's Simon Dyson, a player who once upon a time plied his trade on the Asian Tour.

Dyson, who had not played for three weeks, finished as the leading European player and secured his first top-10 in a major from only his seventh appearance with a 64 for 280, level par, that saw him catapult up the leaderboard.

Of his absence from tournament play since the British Open at Carnoustie, Dyson observed: "My head was somewhere it shouldn't be, and I just thought I needed to recharge the batteries and get my appetite back.

"It certainly seems to have worked because I couldn't wait to tee it up on Thursday."

Yet, he reserved the best until last with a round that he described as "one of the best I've ever had".

When Woods, the defending champion, won his first major - the 1997 US Masters - he led by nine over Costantino Rocca and eventually won by a record 12 shots over Tom Kite. And, on each of the 11 occasions since then that he had started out the final round as leader, it led to the same conclusion.

In the 1999 US PGA. In the 2000 US Open, British Open and US PGA. In the 2001 Masters. In the 2002 Masters and US Open. In the 2005 Masters and British Open. In the 2006 British Open. And, more recently, in the 2006 US PGA.

Yesterday, Stephen Ames - three shots adrift at the start of the day - had the honour of partnering Woods in the last pairing and promptly started bogey-bogey.

And while Woods bogeyed the second, after driving into the trees, he responded with birdies at the fourth, seventh and eighth holes before dropping a shot on the ninth to turn in 34, which left him eight-under.

The main threat to Woods was emerging as Els, whose last major win came in the British Open at Muirfield in 2002. The South African, immune to the heat, covered the front nine in 32 - thanks to birdies on the third, fifth and eighth holes - and then birdied the 10th to move to five-under, three shots adrift. Which still left Woods very much in the driving seat.

8 under

Tiger Woods (US) after 9

5 under

Ernie Els (Rsa) after 11

3 under

Woody Austin (US) after 10

1 under

Trevor Immelman (Rsa) after 15

Stephen Ames (Can) after 9

level

Simon Dyson (Eng) 73 71 72 64