THE GLOBALISATION of golf didn't require a thumbs-up from the Olympics. Yesterday provided the proof, as the main contenders who walked off the first tee at Hazeltine National represented a virtual United Nations of prospective champions.

Among them were the son of a policeman from the foothills of the Dublin mountains, another a native of Seoul, South Korea, who only seriously pursued his dream after a two-year stint in military service.

For Pádraig Harrington and YE Yang, the sense of purpose in the 91st US PGA Championship was one and the same: to chase down Tiger Woods, and to create a piece of history in the process.

In all 14 of his major victories, Woods had won from the front having gone into the final round with the outright lead or a share of it.

As Harrington, who teed off with a howling wind and rain coming in over his right shoulder put it beforehand, "I've got to have the attitude to go for shots, that's the only way to do it . . . . certainly, not to be, in any shape or form, cautious."

Yesterday, with the course buffeted by a crosswind that made players use creative shot-making, Woods - who held a two-stroke lead over Harrington and Yang at the start - was odds-on favourite to claim his first major title of the season in the final major the year.

Harrington, for one, was determined that the world's numero uno wouldn't have it all his own way; even if - playing in the penultimate pairing, alongside Sweden's Henrik Stenson - he didn't get the opportunity to stare the tiger in the eyes on this occasion.

Which was probably just as well, as one disastrous hole - the short eighth - ruined any hopes Harrington had of retaining the title he won at Oakland Hills.

What do you call what happened to Harrington on the eighth? A "Firestone moment" perhaps, as the ghosts of Akron returned a week later to torment the Dubliner.

Except this time his eight represented a quintuple bogey rather than a triple bogey. Having grafted for days, his quest to retain the title evaporated into the humid Minnesota air.

In the swirling wind, Harrington's bold tee-shot - a six-iron to the 176 yards eighth - plunged into the pond to the right of the green. What followed turned the hole into a disaster, as he went to the drop zone and pulled his shot into the left rough - where Henrik Stenson had to duck to avoid being hit by the ball.

It got worse, as Harirngton's next shot from the heavy rough - a la his shot at the 16th in Firestone a week ago - flew the green straight into the pond.

After another drop, this time into the rough, he failed to find the green and eventually ran up that eight to drop from six-under (just one behind Woods) to one-under and his dream of back-to-back PGAs disappeared as if by a witch's sorcery.

Harrington's bid for a fourth major - to add to his British Open wins in 2007 and 2008 and his US PGA victory of 2008 - started solidly, as he parred the opening five holes. Indeed, he'd made up a shot on Woods after the American suffered a three-putt bogey on the short fourth to drop back to seven-under and into a share of the lead with Yang, who birdied the third.

But the Korean dropped back into a share of second with Harrington after bogeying the fifth, where he missed the green with his approach.

On the front nine, Harirngton's quest for a birdie proved to be frustrating. Although he made a great sand save - hitting his bunker shot 25 yards to five feet - on the fourth, the Dubliner had an excellent opportunity for birdie on the sixth where he hit an nine-iron approach to eight feet but narrowly missed the putt. And then he was handed a knockout blow by his antics on the eighth.

Lucas Glover, the US Open champion, had started strongly with birdies on the third and fifth but dropped a shot on the sixth to fall back to five under, two strokes behind at that juncture.

In fact, after an opening hole double bogey six kicked him into action, the best golf was played by 20-year-old Ulsterman Rory McIlroy.

After suffering that six, McIlroy's response was to reel off a hat-trick of birdies from the third and then rolled in an eight-footer for another birdie on the ninth to reach three-under for the championship as he turned for the back nine.

Woods and Yang were tied for the lead on six-under as they reached the turn, three shots clear of Soren Kjeldsen, Lee Westwood and McIlroy, who was on course for his best-ever finish in a major.

At the other end of the field, Phil Mickelson left Hazeltine determined to fix his playing problems in time for the FedEx Cup play-offs later this month.

His final-round 76 was a sixth successive score over par, having faded at last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

The American finished the tournament at 12 over par, his aggregate of 300 the worst in 16 appearances in the final major of the year, which he won in 2005.

With the FedEx Cup play-offs beginning on August 27th with The Barclays tournament at Liberty National near New York, Mickelson has plenty of work to do on his putting having taken more than 30 putts in each of his four rounds at Hazeltine National.

"The last two weeks have been frustrating with my play," Mickelson said.

"I'll have, fortunately, a week off before we start the FedExCup and I'll see if I can get my game turned around for Barclays."