USPGA Championship: Tiger Woods has never had it so bad in a major but, as you'd expect from the world's number one, there were to be no tears, no heartbreak and no recriminations as he made an uncustomary early departure from the 58th US PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club before the third round leaders, Chad Campbell and Shaun Micheel, had even teed off in their quests to claim the title. Philip Reid reports from Rochester, New York

In recording his worst ever finish in a major as a professional, Woods - who finished with a final-round 73 for 12-over-par 292 - was also finishing a year empty-handed in terms of lifting a major title.

Despite four wins on the US Tour this season, it was the first year since 1998 that Woods had failed to win one of golf's four majors and his 41st-place finish here was the first time he had not finished in the top-30 in a major since turning professional in 1996. His previous worst finishes were tied-29th in both the 1997 US PGA and the 2001 US PGA.

"It was a tough week. When you get on a golf course this hard, if you're just a little off, that's all it takes. Yeah, I have played not my best, but the key is not to miss the fairways and there were times, a lot of times, when the ball finished one foot into the rough. Once it hops in there, you've got no shot. The trouble is that I didn't hit the ball close enough to give myself chances," he admitted.

He continued: "All it takes is a couple of bad shots here and there and, if you turn the club over (in the rough), you're going to run up high numbers. At least I managed to keep a double bogey off my card all week, which was the only good thing. But I bogeyed one-fourth of the holes, and that's not good."

Woods's driving accuracy for the championship really told the story of his woes. Over the four rounds, he only hit 26 of a possible 56 fairways - a strike rate of only 46 per cent - and, consequently, his greens-in-regulation statistics were also strikingly poor, at 45 per cent. "This golf course is the toughest, but fairest, that I have ever played in a major," he contended. "It was very fair, right there in front of you - it was just very difficult.

"I've felt very good about my game the entire summer, it's just one of those weeks where I've been a little off. It's just timing," added Woods. "If I match up, I've hit some really good shots, and I've hit them in stretches, but then I lose it for a little bit."

Still, his performance is likely to fuel speculation that Woods is no longer the intimidating force he once was in the majors. In this year's other majors, he finished tied-15th at the US Masters, tied-20th at the US Open and tied-fourth in the British Open.

"Yeah, this year has been frustrating," he conceded, "because I have been there with a chance going into the weekend . . . but that's the way you go."

With no major title in his haul for 2003, Woods at least returns to happier hunting grounds at Akron, Ohio, for this week's WGC-NEC Invitational, an event he has won in three of the last four years.

Meanwhile, the likelihood of another first-time winner, the fourth of the year, grew increasingly likely as the final round of the championship progressed.

At the start of the day, Micheel and Campbell - neither of whom had won on the US Tour - were co-leaders on four-under. However, Campbell's challenge faltered over the front nine, which he turned in 38, three over, to be two shots adrift of pacemaker Micheel.

South Africa's Tim Clark, a product of the American collegiate system, emerged as the principal challenger to Micheel. Clark started out with four birdies and a bogey in his first five holes and turned in 32, to be three-under, level with Micheel, in the championship only to bogey the 10th, falling a shot behind the on-course leader.