By Alan Wilson

IT TOOK the best part of 31/2 rounds of golf but Tiger Woods finally shrugged off the challenge of Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie to win the 134th Open Championship at St Andrews yesterday.

Tiger proved the bookies right, stretching his lead at the end to five shots over Monty, who trailed in second on nine under par.

It is Tiger’s second Open title, having picked up the cherished Claret Jug the last time it was played at St Andrews in 2000.

Starting the day on 12-under par, two ahead of Jose Maria Olazabal and three ahead of Monty, Tiger knew he probably need only maintain that distance to win his 10th major, taking him past the half-way mark towards his holy grail of beating Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18.

It was a personal victory for Monty and a welcome return to the form that saw him entrenched as Europe’s top player for seven years in a row and among the top three players in the world during the 1990s.

“I’m delighted to be back to where I was in the ’90s and it feels very good.

“There’s no disgrace to lose to a player like Tiger Woods.

“What more can one say about Tiger. That’s 10 majors now and he’s on his way to Jack’s record which we said no one would ever come close to.”

“It’s a dream come true,” said the champion.

“To win at the Home of Golf is as good as it gets.

“I’ve come out on top and I’m very fortunate to hit the ball the way I did today.

“Monty was playing in front of me and I just figured that if he birdied then I would do the same.

“I really played well today.”

It was a great day for the Scottish amateurs, who had a battle for the silver medal before Lloyd Saltman of Craigielaw Golf Club in East Lothian pipped Carnoustie’s Eric Ramsay at the final hole with a birdie three.

Ramsay had posted a four-under-par total of 284 after a hugely impressive 68.

Perfect weather had seen massive crowds all week, with 223,000 spectators paying to watch the action, almost 50,000 up on last year’s figure at Royal Troon.