The notion may seem rather crass to the Corinthians in our midst, but like it or not, competitive sport is about winning and losing. Anyone who finds those extremes unacceptably harsh, should stick to simple recreation.

Rarely has this concept been more sharply defined than in the closing round of the US Masters on Sunday. While Tiger Woods, the supreme golfing competitor, went in search of unprecedented triumph, his chief rivals buckled before him.

Ironically, there was far more pressure on Woods than there was on David Duval or Phil Mickelson, his closest challengers. While he sought his place in history, Duval and Mickelson were concerned with no more than the winning of a Masters title.

Before the final round, Mickelson spoke earnestly about relishing his place alongside Woods in the last two-ball of the day. Duval, meanwhile, was perfectly-positioned to post a score in the more gentle company of Ernie Els.

Earlier, he had scoffed at talk of Woods's invincibility, pointing out that his record aggregate in last year's British Open was only a stroke ahead of the target set by Nick Faldo. And that despite all the hoopla surrounding his Masters triumph of 1997, he had beaten the previous record aggregate also by a modest stroke. Jack Nicklaus might have been describing the events of Sunday when, on being asked recently about prospective challengers for Woods, he replied: "I just don't think the guys now have stepped forward to challenge Tiger. They all seem to fall on their faces coming down the stretch. The guys you'd think would be there at the end with him, just don't seem to be there."

For a change, there was little real spectacle in the climactic stage of Sunday's play: drama in abundance but none of the major disasters associated with Rae's Creek or the eagles one tends to expect on the 13th and 15th holes.

Against that background, it is interesting to note Duval's three-putt par on the 13th; his ill-judged tee-shot through the green for a bogey on the short 16th and his missed birdie putts of 12 feet and five feet on the 17th and 18th. Four shots went abegging on those holes: two of them would have got him into a play-off.

For his part, Mickelson made far too many errors. A total of 25 birdies over the four days, meant he conceded 12 strokes to the course. Three of those came at critical stages on Sunday. By missing a two-foot putt, he bogeyed the short sixth. Then at the 11th, a drive into the trees led to a bogey five and he was ultimately undone by a three-putt bogey at the 16th.

When asked what he thought of Woods's performance, he replied quietly: "He simply does what is required." Unfortunately, Mickelson could not say the same of himself in what has become a growing litany of failures in major championships.

With 18 tournament wins in the US and an enviable Ryder Cup singles record, nobody would dispute his ability to crush opponents of lesser quality. But confronted with the challenge of taking on the best, he doesn't seem to have the necessary commitment.

Woods didn't blitz the opposition on Sunday. The truth is that neither Duval nor Mickelson could cope with the competitive heat being generated by the top man. And until they and other rivals succeed in doing so, Woods will continue to reign supreme at the highest level.