Tiger Woods was formally welcomed over the threshold of the Home of Golf yesterday after a breathtaking triumph in the 129th British Open here on the Old Course.

With a final round of 69 for an aggregate of 269, the 24-year-old became the youngest winner of the game's four major professional titles. His arrival was expected. The only question was when precisely he would follow in the footsteps of Bobby Jones, Peter Thomson, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo, among the luminaries to have savoured success at this magical venue. And the full measure of his extraordinary competitive instincts could be gleaned from his treatment of a simple, four-foot putt.

It came on the 72nd green, by which stage all would-be rivals had been crushed into utter submission. He could have taken eight putts of six inches each and still won the title, but he had other things in mind.

"I needed that putt to complete four rounds in the sixties, which I didn't do when I won my other three majors," he said.

Everything about the occasion seemed geared to honour a special champion. Remarkably fine weather may have ruled out a severe links test, but it served to embellish the unique flavour of a St Andrews Open which was clearly relished by record crowds in carnival mood. And how did Woods feel about joining Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Nicklaus and Gary Player as a decidedly elite group? "It's hard to put my emotions into words," he replied. "To have played as well as I did and done the Slam where golf all started, is a wonderful feeling."

He has become the first player since Tom Watson in 1982 to win the US Open and the British Open in the same year; he has completed a record-breaking aggregate for a St Andrews Open, and his eight-stroke victory margin over Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn is the biggest since 1913.

Small wonder that, after presenting him with the coveted claret jug, the Royal and Ancient captain, Michael Bonallack, felt moved to remark: "He is unquestionably the best golfer I have ever seen. Tiger has the total game - everything. I now believe he will go on to beat Jack's (Nicklaus) record of 18 major titles."

A highly-promising Irish challenge, which saw all four players make the cut and Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington challenge for the lead at various stages over the four days, became something of an anticlimax with Clarke being forced to settle for a share of seventh place.

Tied fourth overnight, the Tyroneman birdied the first and third to get within five strokes of the leader. But he went on to three-putt the fourth and eighth for bogeys and drop back among the pack, albeit for a reward of u £66,250 sterling.

"The most disappointing thing is that, while I doubt if I could have won it, I certainly put myself in a challenging position for second place," he said. "And I didn't come here to finish back where I did."

From 11 under par after the third, Clarke was still 10 under after a birdie at the 12th, but he covered the remaining holes in two over for a dispiriting 73. Having set off with a 54-hole lead of six strokes, Woods saw his advantage cut to three by his good friend and playing partner, David Duval, after seven holes. But in the manner of great players, the world number one re-asserted such dominance as to leave the opposition visibly stunned.

Nowhere was this more in evidence than in the collapse of Duval, who had the temerity to replace Woods as the world number one twice last summer. By sharper approach play, which saw him inside the leader on most of the early holes, Duval birdied the second, third, sixth and seventh to be 14 under par. Els, who was destined to be a "major" runner-up for a third time this season, got to 12 under before a bogey at the short 11th pushed him back; David Toms got to 13 under before he too dropped a stroke there, and Bjorn remained at 12 under until the 13th, where he succumbed to the pressure of the occasion.

Woods, meanwhile, was doing what he did so effectively in defence of a big lead in the US Open last month - grinding out pars and playing percentage golf. As it happened, his only improvement over the opening seven holes was at the fourth, where he sank one of those 12-footers which he tends to despatch with monotonous regularity.

The gap over Duval was widened to four when Woods sank a 10-footer for birdie at the 10th. But the turning point came two holes later. Having driven the green, Woods carded a two-putt birdie, as he had done on the previous three days, but Duval failed to chip up the treacherous slope protecting the level part of the green where the pin was placed 22 yards in.

Then, after three putts, he had run up a bogey five to be six strokes adrift. Another bogey at the next made it seven, and his failure to match the leader's birdie at the long 14th made it eight.

But the ultimate indignity was inflicted on him by the notorious Road Hole Bunker of the 17th.

Dangerously close to the face of it, he made two attempts to escape the hard way and failed; he then knocked the ball back in the trap and eventually got out in four to run up a quadruple-bogey eight, one fewer than Tommy Nakajima had taken in 1978. It seems that Woods, who avoided all of the 112 bunkers over the four days, had words of commiseration for him in his torment, but Duval was keeping them to himself.

Was the bunker unfair? "You don't judge fair or unfair," he replied. "It is what it is. You don't go in there."

He added: "Tiger's performance was spectacular; he just didn't make any mistakes."

Meanwhile, Woods was clearly thrilled by his success. "This is the ultimate," he said. "I feel very fortunate to have had things happen early in my career."

Then he added generously: "I felt my game was good enough to win here but you need luck, which I had today and David didn't have."

And the golfing fates dictated that it should all happen two days after Nicklaus had departed the scene.