Golf's major championship, the US Open, was marked last weekend by the sudden and complete collapse of leader Phil Mickelson's game on the final four holes. But here in Kathmandu, Sanjib Rajbhandari (receiving trophy on Saturday, above) displayed consistently superb skills to capture the 8th Gokarna Open at Le Meridien Gokarna Forest Golf Resort & Spa last Saturday.

Playing a 15-handicap allowance, Sanjib scored 43 stableford points for a 3-stroke victory over his closest rival Ang Tsering Sherpa. The runner-up hit 11 pars and two birdies to finish three points back. YD Kwon topped the ladies field, followed by Puspa Rai while Le Meridien Gokarna Chairman Prem Sachdev took the seniors' trophy with 37 points.

The weekend's drama was really at Mamaroneck, NY, site of the US Open. For those of you who were too engrossed by the World Cup to watch golf live or even catch the highlights, let me sum up Mickelson's collapse.

The 32-year-old had a two-shot lead with four holes to play but miscues plagued his final round, including missing 16 of 18 fairways. His tee shot on the 18th went far left and rattled through the trees into the trampled rough. Instead of playing out to the fairway and trying to get par, Mickelson went for the green but hit a tree, the ball advancing only 25 yards. His third shot sailed left of the green and got buried in the bunker, plugged so badly that he could only escape the hole with a double bogey.

That opened the door for Australian Geoff Ogilvy, who displayed some exceptional shots in his closing holes: he chipped in from a distorted rough on the 17th to save par, then overcame a miserable break on the 18th when his tee shot came to rest in a divot. His approach shot faltered as it reached the wrong side of the green but Ogilvy followed up with a splendid chip shot and sank the putt for a par.

Scot Colin Montgomerie had the best chance of his career to take the major title but his dreams died when he double bogeyed the last hole. He wasn't alone. The Winged Foot course punished many players, including Tiger Woods, who missed the cut by shooting 12 over in two rounds, ending his streak of making the grade in 37 consecutive majors.