The Monday-morning feeling became a winning one for Hal Sutton here on the Stadium Course yesterday, when he overcame Tiger Woods in a thrilling climax to the rain-delayed $6 million Players' Championship. In capturing the title for a second time after a lapse of 17 years, Sutton took a record top prize of $1.08 million.

But for Sutton the event was about much more than money. "This is the reason I took up golf as a 10-year-old and stayed with it through hard, ugly times," he said afterwards. "It's a wonderful feeling."

Indeed, there can be no greater feeling in golf these days than to beat the world number one head-to-head, as Darren Clarke discovered at La Costa last month. And Sutton had to stomach a potentially crippling eagle three from Woods at the long 16th, where a three-stroke lead suddenly dwindled to one.

The world number one looked very much deflated after this latest testament to his vulnerability. "At least I made Hal work for it," he said. "With the eagle on 16, I put a little heat on him. I made sure he wasn't going to have a stroll up the last. It was a good battle and we enjoyed each other's company."

Their battle had taken 20 and a half hours to complete, since they hit off the first tee in the final round at 2.0 p.m. local time on Sunday afternoon. By the time they were playing the 12th, with Sutton having stretched a one-stroke lead to three, play was suspended because of lightning. It was 4.45 p.m. Colin Montgomerie was on the 15th tee at that stage. And when play was eventually resumed at 9.0 yesterday morning, the Scot went on to protect his tournament score of four-under-par. It meant holing a 15-footer for par on the 18th after recovering from a greenside bunker, which guaranteed him a share of third place rather than a drop to eighth.

"That's done my confidence a lot of good going to Augusta," he said afterwards. "But with three of the par fives reachable, I consider this to be a much more level playing field. I've no intention of settling for second place, but Tiger will be very short odds to win the Masters."

Ominously dark skies carried the threat of further rain as relatively modest crowds returned for the closing chapter of what had been an intriguing event. And it soon became clear that Sutton, who has been likened to Barney Rubble of the Flintstones because of his rugged, square jaw, was in a formidable, fighting mood.

As it happened, seven closing pars were sufficient to ensure him the title. Woods, on the other hand, three-putted the 12th from 45 feet to open with a bogey and slip four strokes adrift. And though he birdied the short 13th from five feet, it was clear that he needed Sutton to falter.

Without that, even the eagle on the 507-yard 16th wouldn't be enough. And it was a splendid specimen. After a beautifully-struck drive, he needed only a five-iron to send his second shot 12 feet past the pin. And from there, one sensed he would complete the job. Which he did.

"I had already accepted in my head that Tiger was going to do something like that," said Sutton. "I was even prepared for him to chip in for a birdie at the last. That's why I concentrated on my birdie putt (12 feet), while he was playing his shot."

He went on: "I kind of backed into winning here in 1983, so to win the way I did this time is really special. This course asks everything of you. Then there was Tiger. If you give him an open door he simply rushes through, so I stuck to my plan to play strategic golf, taking each hole as it came."

With his lead down to a stroke standing on the tee at the fearsome 17th, Sutton still had much work to do, especially in view of the triple-bogey six he carded there on Saturday. But with very little wind and the green softened by Sunday's rain, it was at its least difficult of the tournament.

In the event, Woods hit a wedge 145 yards to the right fringe whereas Sutton's nine iron safely found the centre of the green. Both made pars which left Sutton a stroke clear going down the 18th. And he played the finishing hole superbly, hitting a six-iron second shot of 179 yards perfectly on line. Woods, on the other hand, pushed his six iron into the swale, back left.