TULSA, Okla. -- Major championship infamy awaited, but on Monday, Retief Goosen shook off the potentially lethal effects of his miraculous meltdown. Now he'll be remembered differently, as a champion who rose above the calamity.

Showing none of the putrid putting that put him in such a precarious position, Goosen shot even-par 70 during an 18-hole playoff at Southern Hills Country Club to defeat Mark Brooks by two strokes and claim the 101st U.S. Open.

Goosen one-putted seven of the first nine greens, getting up-and-down for par on each of the first three holes. And he effectively put the tournament away with birdies at the ninth and 10th holes to earn $900,000 and his first major championship.

"It is a great relief," said Goosen, 32, a soft-spoken South African who received calls of encouragement before the round from countryman and two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els as well as six-time major winner Nick Faldo. "It means everything. It hasn't quite sunk in yet what has happened this week. I just made everything I looked at."

Well, not everything.

And that's the reason a playoff was necessary.

By now, the golf world has witnessed countless times Goosen's feeble effort on the 18th green Sunday, when he would have won if he had two-putted from 12 feet away. He ran the first past, then botched the 2-foot par putt that would have won the tournament.

Although Goosen said he did not witness a replay of his misfortune, he knew what awaited him if failure met him Monday: having to accept his place alongside the likes of Jean Van de Velde, Scott Hoch, Greg Norman and Doug Sanders, all of whom saw major opportunities go up in flames.

"I know now what Jean Van de Velde went through at Carnoustie," Goosen said of the Frechman who made triple-bogey 7 on the 72nd hole at the 1999 British Open with a three-shot lead and lost. "You play so well for 71 holes, and then, suddenly, on one hole you can lose the tournament. And that's how golf is. You play the whole week and it all comes down to one shot at the end of the day.

"But I was just trying to put that behind me."

Remarkably, he did.

"He took the positive," said Goosen's agent, Guy Kinnings. "He was the same stand-up guy: "What do I have to do now.' He was a lot calmer than the rest of us."

Goosen awoke Monday, the nightmare real. He had not won the U.S. Open the day before, another 18-hole round necessary.

And he quickly fell behind Brooks, who birdied the third hole. But it could have been far worse. Goosen missed seven of the first nine greens but was 2 under par.

"It certainly could have been different those first six holes," said Brooks, who earned $530,000 and a spot in each of the next four major championships. "Then I hit bad drives on (Nos.) 7, 9 and 10, and he birdied two of those holes, and that was a big difference. He got the big lead, and I couldn't put any pressure on him.

"He hit great shots and made a lot of putts on the back nine that were small, but in the end, they were big."

After a birdie at the 10th hole and a bogey by Brooks, Goosen had a five-shot advantage. Brooks never got closer than three until Goosen made a meaningless bogey at the last hole.

Goosen, the rookie of the year on the South Africa Tour in 1991 who lives in suburban London, has won four times on the European PGA Tour. This year he had played in five PGA Tour events, missing two cuts. In three previous U.S. Opens, he had missed two cuts, but he tied for 12th at Pebble Beach last year. And in 10 European events this season, he had three top 10s.

But was that an indication he could win the U.S. Open?

"Last week I found something in my putting, and I started putting a lot better," said Goosen, who put a different putter in his bag at the English Open. "I brought my game out feeling that I could do something this week."

Nonetheless, he bought into the Tiger Woods hysteria: "At the beginning of the week, I thought, "It suits Tiger. He's going to win easy.' "

Few people are able to win the U.S. Open easily. Goosen found that out. He thought that was the case Sunday, only to find that he needed another 18 hours and 18 holes to get the job done.

"It's been a pressure week for me since Day 1," he said. "I've learned a lot about myself this week, and now that I can handle a little bit of pressure ... . I've always not had enough self-confidence. And I think this week, I've shot myself something. I'm looking forward to the rest of the big events coming up now."

Retief Goosen

BIRTHDATE: Feb. 2, 1969.

BIRTHPLACE: Pietersburg, South Africa.

RESIDENCE: Johannesburg, South Africa, and Sunninghill, England.

HT./WT.: 6-0; 175.

TURNED PRO: 1990.

BEST PREVIOUS PGA TOUR FINISH: T-10 -- 1997, '99 British Open.

BEST 2000 PGA TOUR FINISH: T-12 -- U.S. Open.

2000 PGA TOUR SUMMARY: 13 tournaments entered, nine in-the-money finishes, no top-10 finishes.

NOTES: First European PGA Tour win came at 1996 Staley Hall Northumberland Challenge. Six-time winner on Southern Africa Tour, including 1996 Phillips South African Open. Southern Africa Tour rookie of the year in 1991. Won 1990 South African Amateur. Introduced to golf at age 11 by his father, an estate agent who has a 10 handicap.

Is it 'WHO-sun' or 'GOO-sun'?

Let's get the name straight. "WHO-sun" might be the most accurate pronunciation -- that's the way it's listed in the PGA Tour media guide -- but Goosen prefers "GOO-sun." "A lot of people are trying to say it like you were South Africans," he said. "But I think the easiest way is just GOO-sun." There's no conflict about the first name: It's "ruh-TEEF."

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