Often derided for his 90-decibel attire, Payne Stewart had steel to match flamboyance in a gripping climax here at Pinehurst No 2 yesterday, when he captured the US Open for a second time. As so often happens at this level, it came down to putting and the winning effort was a 15-footer at the 72nd hole.

In the process, the 42-year-old had achieved almost the impossible, shooting a level par final round after hitting only seven greens in regulation. And with a one-under-par aggregate of 279, he took top prize of $625,000 and beat his playing partner, Phil Mickelson, by a stroke.

But it was also an historic day for Darren Clarke, who shot a closing 71 for an eight-over-par aggregate of 288. More importantly, it gave him $78,863 for a share of 10th place, a distinction that only one Irishman had previously attained in this championship. That was in 1924, when Greenore's Peter O'Hare (known in the US as O'Hara) was tied seventh behind Cyril Walker at Oakland Hills.

As leading European, Clarke's performance was comparable to his share of eighth place in the US Masters at Augusta National last year, though not quite as significant as runner-up in the 1997 British Open at Royal Troon. Small wonder he commented afterwards: "I now feel that I'm capable of winning one of these."

Particularly impressive was that he did it after a potentially crippling double-bogey at the second, where he took four putts from off the green. And he three-putted the 16th for a bogey.

But, in between, there was some beautifully controlled play, which brought the reward of a birdie at the seventh, where he sank a 20-foot putt, and another at the 11th, where a 15-footer found the target. "It makes quite a change from the struggle I had in the early part of the season," he said.

He concluded: "I see this as an important step in my development as a player. I liked the course from the moment I saw it and I then concentrated on maintaining a good attitude throughout."

It was a dramatic day in another, rather unfortunate respect. John Daly was threatened with a ban from future US Opens, arising from his behaviour during a final round of 83. But he remained unrepentant, claiming that he would not be at Pebble Beach next year, "to watch the USGA ruin that golf course".

In running up an 11 at the par-four eighth, Daly incurred a two-stroke penalty for striking a moving ball, in breach of Rule 14-5. This brought a sharp response from David Fay, executive director of the USGA, who said: "You are obliged to play the game in accordance with the rules. If he (Daly) does that again, we will have to ask him to take a seat on the sidelines."

Stewart's triumph was particularly interesting given that he was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) in 1995. The condition should make him an improbable challenger for the ultimate test of precision play.

Indeed it might have been responsible for his failure at the Olympic Club last year, when he squandered a four-stroke lead after 54 holes to finish runner-up to Lee Janzen.

The expert view, however, is that while ADD would make him less successful than most competitors in dealing with off-course distractions, he becomes exceptionally tough when he focused on the task at hand.

This was clearly evident in his play of the last three holes. Tiger Woods stumbled with a missed four-footer for par on the 17th - his fourth lip-out on the last eight holes - and Mickelson missed six-footers for par at the 16th and for birdie at the next. But Stewart's finish of par, birdie, par was set up by an improbable 20-footer for a four at the 16th.

Not even Johnny Miller managed to produce such a finish when he shot a record final round of 63 for victory at Oakmont in 1973. And when Tom Watson finished birdie, birdie at Pebble Beach in 1982, he had earlier bogeyed the 16th.

"The experience of last year made me tougher," said Stewart. "When I stood over that putt on the last I felt good about it because I was sure I had read it right. And I had the confidence of having made a lot of great putts all day." Indeed he had - only 24 in all.

He added: "I started the week convinced I was playing better than on Sunday last year. With Phil and Tiger and David challenging for the title, I knew I wasn't going to be the gallery's choice out there. But I told myself to simply be Payne Stewart. And I'm proud of myself. I don't have to prove anything to anyone.

"I achieved two goals today. I won myself another major and I got on the Ryder Cup team. And I'm tired and worn out. But I don't think I'm going to sleep very well tonight."

The most dramatic aspect of the outward journey was the collapse of David Duval, who carded bogey, double-bogey at the eighth and ninth to effectively drop out of contention. His five at the short ninth stemmed from an extremely difficult bunker recovery which ran through the green from where he took two chips to get onto the putting surface.

"I'm not going to stand here I say I played poorly like I did yesterday," said Duval. "The truth is that I don't know what happened today. I was fortunate to get off to a good start (with birdies at the second and third) but the ninth killed me."

Woods remained in contention throughout and was level par for the championship after a birdie at the 10th. But he paid a severe price for a pulled tee-shot at the 17th. "I'm glad Payne made that putt on 18," he said. "I'll sleep a little better tonight. If I'd posted level par and had to watch him make birdie there, it would have been different."

Vijay Singh's hopes were seriously hurt by a bogey on the 16th, where he was twice in rough down the left to card a bogey and slip back to one over par.

While Woods waited anxiously beside the 18th, Stewart stood on the 18th tee, a stroke clear of Mickelson. But the possibility of a playoff, as had happened for his first US Open triumph at Hazeltine in 1991, loomed large, when he pushed his drive deep into the right rough.

From there, however, he took the prudent choice of knocking the ball out onto the fairway and then left a 35-yard pitch 15 feet below the hole. Mickelson admitted afterwards that he expected Stewart to make it. Stewart, for his part, expected Mickelson to miss.

When asked if he would consider abandoning his outrageous golfing attire for $5 million, he replied: "The replacements would have to be a fairly neat pair of slacks. They'd have to be very fine indeed."

Meanwhile, there was nice look to the illuminated leaderboard here in the media centre last night. There, just beneath former USPGA champion Hal Sutton, current Andersen Consulting World Matchplay champion Jeff Maggert and current world number one David Duval, was "Clarke D" Ready to challenge the best.