Beem takes the USPGA

Rich Beem has stopped Tiger Woods creating golfing history after an amazing finish to the last major of the season.

Woods birdied the last four holes for a 67 that equalled the best round of the final day in the United States PGA championship at Hazeltine National, near Minneapolis.

But still it was not enough to make him the first player ever to win three majors in a season twice.

Beem produced a breathtaking eagle on the long 11th, sank a putt of around 50 feet at the 16th and then kept his nerve to win only the fourth major he has appeared in.

The last player to capture one quicker than that was John Daly back in 1991. It was Daly's third.

Two ahead on the final tee the 31-year-old Beem remembered that he was a winner on the US Tour only two weeks ago rather than a major novice duelling with arguably the greatest player in history.

He could afford to bogey the hole and he did by three-putting it.

His 68 gave him a 10-under-par aggregate of 278, with Woods nine under and Chris Riley, another American competing in only his fourth major, in third place four further back.

"I said on the 15th that if I birdied every hole left I would win," said Woods. "I got the birdies, but I didn't win."

Beem said: "I came here with no expectations of winning. But my putter was unbelievable all week.

"At the 16th I was the most focused I've ever been. The nerves had really started hitting me.