Major Toms shows great ground control

Sometimes it is the quiet assassins who are the most dangerous. And, just when Phil Mickelson thought that he had rid himself of all his demons and tormentors, the unassuming figure of David Toms - claiming his first major win and securing his ticket to the Ryder Cup at the same time - stood in his way and refused to budge.

In taking the 83rd US PGA Championship here at Atlanta Athletic Club, Toms - who shot a final round 69 for a 15-under-par 265, one shot clear of Mickelson - showed a resolve in-built from years on the range and travelling from one tournament to another.

"It's like a dream come true. This is what I've been working towards and it is a reward for all the hard work that I have put in over the years," insisted Toms.

While Toms and Mickelson eye-balled each other over the front nine, the real drama materialised over the homeward run.

As the other pretenders were to be exposed as lacking the killer instinct, the two principals slugged it out in true championship fashion.

While Steve Lowery doggedly hung on to take third, crowd-pleaser Shingo Katayama, who had availed of good fortune on the 12th where his second-shot hit a wall but rebounded into play, rode his luck a little too much. Having seen his ball skip in and then out of the water on the 18th on Saturday, Katayama's approach to the last finished in the lake yesterday. This time, it didn't reappear, and he had to settle for a finishing bogey and tied-fourth with Mark Calcavecchia.

Having brought a two-shot lead into the final round, Toms's initial mindset was to protect it. That strategy was to change, though, when Mickelson produced birdies on the second and fifth overshadowed the par golf of Toms.

On the ninth, however, a two shot swing - where Toms gently rolled in a birdie, but Mickelson's tee-shot smothered in the Bermuda rough and he bogeyed - occurred to give Toms the lead again. By the 12th, they were level pegging again. Toms missed a two-footer for par on the 10th and Mickelson sank a four-footer on the 12th for birdie. That parity didn't last, as Toms took back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th, superbly rolling in a 15-footer there, while his opponent was forced to dig in and produce sand saves on both holes for par.

But as the battle produced more twists and turns, there was another two-shot swing on the 15th where Toms failed to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker. Mickelson, meanwhile, rolled in a 25-footer from just off the green for a birdie. They were tied at 15-under. But not for long, as Mickelson's self-destruct button was pressed on the 16th where his tee shot was pulled into the trees. Even though it ricocheted back into the fairway, he failed to take advantage of his break and suffered a three-putt bogey.

And the drama continued right to the death. Seeking to protect his one-shot advantage, Toms's drive on the 18th fairway finished on a terrible lie. On a downslope, crying out for a hook into the water that guards the green, and with 209 yards to the flag, Toms took the brave decision to lay-up and rely on his short game.

Mickelson, meanwhile, put his six-iron approach to 25 feet, leaving him with a birdie putt. Toms, barely displaying any emotion, then played a sand wedge third shot to 12 feet. When Mickelson missed his birdie attempt, it was all down to Toms.

If he holed, he would win; if he missed, he would be into a play-off. Demonstrating nerves of steel, Toms rolled the ball into the hole and was raising his putter to acknowledge the acclaim of those massed around the 72nd hole in recognition of his achievement. "A heck of a putt," was Mickelson's assessment of the putt that prolonged his major misery.

"It's tough to take," admitted Mickelson, adding: "Every time I caught him, it seemed that I made a mistake and it is extremely disappointing. It is going to make for a tough winter. I am not going to beat myself up, but I have a long time to wait now for the next major. I am not just trying to win one major, I want to make a bunch of them. It's frustrating that I can't even get one." Toms, who jumped from 14th to fifth in the US Ryder Cup table, shoving Tom Lehman out of an automatic place on the team, had some words of comfort for Mickelson. "He's too good a player not to win a major. It's just a question of time before he wins ," claimed Toms.

Overall, it was a pretty dismal championship for the Europeans. Sweden's Jesper Parnevik did enough to claim the distinction of finishing as top European (in tied-13th place), but not enough to make any appreciable inroads in his quest to make the Ryder Cup team on his own steam. Parnevik finished with a final round 68 for four-under-par 276, and must now rely on a call from Sam Torrance to be at The Belfry. "I'm hitting the ball better than I have in years, but Sam has a tough choice. It's hard to see a Ryder Cup without Jose Maria Olazabal."

And Paul McGinley - who flew out to Akron last night to work on his short game - had considerable satisfaction in not alone cementing his Ryder Cup place, but also in securing a tied-22nd finish to be second-best placed European player. He boosted his bank balance by $44,300, and, although remaining in eighth place, he put more distance between himself and his pursuers in the Ryder Cup table.

Others, though, made quick exits - and nobody was quicker, or more disappointed, than Colin Montgomerie. Although never in contention, the Scot's championship ended on a sour note when he was disqualified for signing for an incorrect score in his final round.