PINEHURST, N.C. - Tiger Woods looked like a beaten man as he stood behind the 18th green, gently rubbing his knuckles over his upper lip as he gazed back at the 16th and 17th holes, a 200-yard area of Pinehurst No. 2 that cost him a chance to win the U.S. Open.

Off to his right was the bronze statue of Payne Stewart, striking the winning pose from six years ago.

Woods always has said he was thrilled that Stewart made a 15-foot par putt on the final hole to win the 1999 U.S. Open at 1 under par. He said it helped him sleep better knowing that Stewart finished two shots ahead of him, and that the par putt Woods missed on the 17th hole that year ultimately didn't matter.

This time, it did.

Michael Campbell won the U.S. Open by two strokes, with clutch shots down the stretch and a little help from Woods.

The guy who has built a mystique by making pressure putts blinked twice in two holes late Sunday afternoon, missing an 8-foot par on the 16th and three-putting for bogey on the 17th, missing from 6 feet.

Eight shots behind after two holes, Woods found little consolation from this close call at Pinehurst.

"Depends on how you get there, you know?" he said. "If you come out of nowhere to get second, then yeah. But if you feel you had a chance to win and you didn't take that opportunity to win the tournament, then it's disappointing. The two seconds that I've had ... the PGA at Hazeltine and now here ... I did not get it done."

Campbell showed him how to do it.

The 36-year-old from New Zealand dropped only two shots on the back nine, both times when it didn't matter.

One of them came on the 16th, after Woods had bogeyed to four shots behind. The other came on the 18th hole, when he could have three-putted from 3 feet and still won.

In between was a collection of shots that define U.S. Open champions.

With not much green to work with on the 11th, Campbell blasted out to 6 feet and holed the par putt with authority. He did the same on the par-3 15th, having to hit out of a bunker with the ball close to a steep knoll. It came out perfectly, as did the 6-foot putt he made.

And the final blow, an 8-iron into 20 feet, was as pure as it gets.

"He brought his game starting with the first swing," said Olin Browne, who played with Campbell and shot 80. "He recovered when he needed to recover. He executed when he needed to execute. He didn't make any stupid mistakes. And he played smart when he had to play smart."

The only thing Campbell didn't beat was par - that meaningless bogey on the last hole gave him a 69 to finish at even-par 280, the first time a U.S. Open champion didn't break par since Lee Janzen at Olympic Club in 1998.