IT WAS a triumph for one of the game's decent men, the sort of character most people would welcome as a next door neighbour. Baring his receding brow to the cheering crowds around the final hole, 37 year old Tom Lehman struck a significant blow for "the American cause by capturing the 125th British Open in sustained sunshine here yesterday.

Never before in the rich history of the championship, had an American professional won at Lytham. Even more significant, however, was the fact that through Lehman's victory, the coveted claret jug has crossed the Atlantic on successive years, for the first time since Tom Watson's fifth triumph in 1983. With a 13 under par total of 271, he was two strokes clear of compatriot Mark McCumber and South Africa's Ernie Els.

"It was a struggle; I didn't play all that well; I had no rhythm," Lehman admitted afterwards. "But I stuck it out and I came through. All the hard work along the way to this day, makes everything in the past worthwhile." Then he added: "My dad is here but I wish my wife, who stayed at home, were with me too."

Twelve months ago, Lehman opted out of the Open at St Andrews, so as to be with his wife Melissa when she gave birth to their baby son. Now, three days before reaching his first birthday, Thomas Junior has had his future secured by enormous rewards of which the top prize of £200,000 is only a part.

Perhaps Lehman's greatest achievement lay in the fact that he withstood the pressure of a final round with his closest challenger, Nick Faldo. And after a torrid battle, notable more for slips than spectacle, it was the Masters champion who was eventually forced to admit defeat. And Faldo did so graciously, on his way to fourth place. As they walked up the final fairway, he gave the American a pat on the back and said: "Well done. You deserve it."

Effectively, the American placed one hand very firmly on the trophy through a stunning, course record 64 on Saturday. Apart from giving him a championship record aggregate of 198 for 54 holes - 15 under par - it provided a priceless lead of six strokes.

Clearly, he didn't have to be reminded of the ominous significance of the situation. While thinking of the manner in which Faldo overhauled the same lead by Greg Norman in the US Masters last April. Lehman took the simple, practical view that "I'd rather be six ahead than six behind. It's my tournament to win and it's my tournament to lose."

Deep down, most observers acknowledged that while Lehman had yet to capture a major championship, he appeared to be made of sterner stuff than Normal when it came to the pressure of the big occasion. His main errors in climactic situations had been tactical rather than emotional.

And it could be said that he had paid his dues after finishing third behind Bernhard Langer in the 1993 US Masters; second behind Jose Maria Olazabal at Augusta the following year; being third behind Corey Pavin in the US Open at Shinnecock Hills and in finish runner up to Steve Jones at Oakland Hills last month.

Meanwhile, a hidden benefit of his six stroke lead was the crushing effect it had on the thinking of his pursuers. Given the extent of the gap, they felt obliged to attack the course relentlessly, in the belief that Lehman would probably shoot 70, at worst. As it happened, he went backwards for most of the round and though there was no hint of a serious collapse, his lead was clearly vulnerable.

Lehman's first crisis occurred at the third, where his tee shot finished in the face of one of Lytham's notorious pot bunkers. It cost him a bogey, cutting his lead to five strokes. And there were prospects of a tense battle ahead when Faldo sank an eight foot putt for a birdie at the next. Now the gap was only four strokes, with 14 holes to play.

When the Englishman reflected afterwards on the turning point of the round, however, he singled out the fifth, sixth and seventh holes as the most damaging, from his standpoint. "That was a bad run," he admitted. "It was tough to keep my confidence up after that. If I had taken those three chances, things could have been different, but I just didn't take advantage." Faldo added: "Tom's third round score was the key to this Open."

In terms of his own failure, Faldo was alluding to a missed six foot birdie putt at the short fifth; a missed three and a half footer at the next, where Lehman could hardly believe his luck in maintaining a four stroke gap despite a decidedly patchy, par five. And at the long seventh, after a glorious, 100 yard sandwedge to seven feet, he missed that one too.

Suddenly, he was becoming something of an also ran while Fred Couples and Mark Brooks took up the challenge. With a spectacular haul of five birdies in an outward 30, Couples got to 12 under par and within two stroke of the lead. Brooks, meanwhile, got to 11 under par after the long seventh.

Given his greater experience, Couples looked the more dangerous. But a series of uncharacteristically slack tee shots, led to bogeys at the 10th, long 11th and the 13th and he gradually drifted out of the picture. Then it became the turn of the 1994 US Open champion, Els, to take up the challenge.

He, too, got to double figures with a birdie at the 10th. Then, further birdies at the 12th, 13th and 15th, brought him to 13 under par. As it happened, the South African never got closer than two strokes from the lead but he was clearly in a position to win. Then came the unforgivable slip of finding a bunker off the tee at the 16th, with the result that he ran up a bogey at a hole be should have birdied.

By that stage, McCumber was the leader in the clubhouse on 11 under and the best Els could do was equal that target, after a drive into sand led to a closing bogey And on a day when Faldo putted as badly as I have ever seen in a major championship, the title was Lehman's, barring an act of self destruction.

"It was a long day and it seemed it was never going to end," he said. "I didn't play very well and there were times when I felt a bit inadequate looking at the way Nick was striking the ball." But the American struck a crucial blow at the short 12th, both in terms of his own self esteem and his prospects of a comfortable win.

A wickedly difficult, 198 yard par three, which carries the threat of out of bounds on the right, was reduced to a four iron tee shot and a 12 foot putt for a birdie two: Lehman was 15 under par once more. After that, he could afford a three putt bogey at the 14th and another bogey at the 17th, where he bunkered his drive, and still have a two stroke lead going up the last.

There, he admitted, the objective was to hit a one iron off the tee "anywhere left." He avoided the ubiquitous sand and faced with 185 yards to the green, he hit an eight iron flier from rough, made the putting surface and got down in two more from there.

Only five years ago, Lehman was playing for prizes of $4,000 on the humble Nike Tour in the US, simply to try and meet his expenses. Now, with career earnings of $4 million, he and his family need never have financial worries again. But this meant a great deal more than money.

"You don't want to read that you can't win the big one," said Lehman. "Today wasn't pretty, but it was good enough." Indeed it was. And the man who made many friends on his way to a ninth place finish in the Smurfit European Open at The K Club last autumn, had won the biggest one of all.