SOME SOUGHT deliverance. Others wanted redemption.

Then, there were those who felt an entitlement. The 92nd US PGA Championship brought many potential champions to the first tee at Whistling Straits for yesterday’s conclusion to the season’s final major and, of them, only Nick Watney – who had carried a three stoke lead into the final round – was given an early answer. This major would not be his.

As Watney’s dream evaporated with a cruelty and a finality over the opening stretch of contrived dunes – the American suffering a double bogey at the first hole which paled beside the triple bogey he ran up on the Par 3 eighth where he pushed his tee shot into Lake Michigan – the season’s final major went out with a bang.

These things should come with some sort of health warning. But when all the fireworks had fizzled out, Johnson – the player who suffered a final round collapse in the US Open at Pebble Beach in June – shot a final round 71 for 277 left him on the same mark as Bubba Watson, who finished with a 68, and Martin Kaymer, who made a 15-footer par save on the last for a 70, to also finish in 277.

But Johnson was subsequently given a two shot penalty for grounding his club in a wild bunker on the 18th, which ruled him out of the play-off. it left Kaymer and Watson in a three hole aggregate playoff over the 10th, 17th and 18th.

Rory McIlroy – who shot a final round 72 for 278 – finished in tied third, a shot outside the play-off. On a fabulously sunny day with a breeze sufficiently stiff to imitate those which prevail on a genuine links, a mix of the new and the old got into the mix. Indeed, of those who muscled a way into contention, the big surprise was Australian Steve Elkington – the 1995 champion – who defied his 47-year-old bones and an allergy to grass to get into the thick of things coming down the stretch, only to succumb with bogeys on the 17th and 18th that effectively ended that fairytale.

For one and all, it was a rollercoaster, especially for Johnson who drove into a waste area outside the ropes on the 18th - on his way to a bogey - which under scrutiny in the recorder's afterwards was deemed to be a bunker and he suffered a two shot penalty which ruled him out of the play-off.

McIlroy – seeking to become the youngest winner of the trophy since Tom Creavy in 1931 – defied a stubbornly cold putter to also be very much in contention as he had to wait until the seventh hole for his first birdie but moved to within two strokes of Kaymer with an eight-foot birdie on the 10th.

The 21-year-old Ulsterman had birdie chances on the 11th, 12th and 13th – from distances ranging from 10 to 20 feet – but had to keep his patience as putt after putt after putt grazed the hole. Each missed putt was followed by an exasperated movement of his body, as he urged the ball to drop.

Finally, on the 14th, McIlroy rolled in a 10-footer for birdie which brought him within a shot of Kaymer and, when Kaymer bogeyed the 15th, McIlroy found himself in a share of the lead with the German and Watson before the late, late charge from Johnson whose birdies at the 13th, 16th – where he was in trouble off the tee and then in the rough with his second – and the 17th moved him into the lead and gave him the title. McIlroy, who saw another 15-footer for birdie slide by the hole on the 18th, settled for a 72 for 278, 10 under, which gave him a share of fourth with Zach Johnson.

All week, patience had been McIlroy’s mantra. Following on from his third place finish in St Andrews, McIlroy headed into the final round in upbeat mood. “I’m not going out there and be overly aggressive and be stupid. You’re going to have to hit good shots and give yourself plenty of chances . … my third place last year (at Hazeltine), the third place at St Andrews gives me a lot of confidence to know that if I am in these major championships I’m good enough to hold my own with the best players in the world. It definitely gives me a lot going forward.”

On this occasion, though, it was not to be for McIlroy – if only his putter had obeyed on the way home, when he gave himself chance after chance.

Paul Casey conducted a final day charge to move into the top-15, not sufficient however to move into an automatic place on Europe’s Ryder Cup. The Englishman shot a closing 69 for 282, six under, but was unrelenting in his adopted stance to stay in America for the FedEx Cup series rather than attempt to play his way into the team at Gleneagles.

“My schedule is set. I missed out on the FedEx Cup last year (due to injury) and the big goal for me from an individual standpoint is playing in the Tour Championship. I had a chat with Colin (Montgomerie) and explained that is a goal I want to accomplish. He wished me luck,” said Casey.

Meanwhile, Darren Clarke had a final round 73 for 289, one over, which featured 34 putts. “I’ve taken the maximum amount I could have this week. Almost as good as I can play tee to green . . . . but my putting killed, it really has.”

Tiger Woods finished with a 73 for 286, which meant he failed to break into the automatic places for the US Ryder Cup team and will now need a ‘wild card’ pick from US captain Corey Pavin. That announcement won’t be made until September 7th, but Woods is expected to get one of Pavin’s four captain’s selections.