Tiger wins Buick Invitational and 62nd Tournament

I love this photo - congratulations again Tiger (what a start to the year!)

Tiger Woods shrugged off three consecutive bogeys while cruising to an eight-shot victory at the Buick Invitational on Sunday for his 62nd PGA Tour title.

Eight shots in front overnight, the world No.1 holed two monster birdie putts on his way to a one-under-par 71 in increasingly windy conditions on the South Course at Torrey Pines.

Woods piled up five birdies and four bogeys for a 19-under total of 269 to record a fourth successive triumph at the coastal venue and his sixth overall.

Japan's Ryuji Imada closed with a 67 to finish a distant second at 11 under, two ahead of South Africa's Rory Sabbatini (67) and American Stewart Cink (73).

John Senden (72) and Stuart Appleby (73) were the leading Australians, finishing in a tie for eighth on five-under, a massive 14 shots behind Woods.

Aaron Baddeley, who started the day tied for fourth, shot a disappointing 76 on Sunday to finish in equal 13th on three-under.

"I wanted to go out there and make no bogeys and shoot something under par, so I got half of that right," Woods said in a greenside television interview.

"I think we are all pleased to get this thing in," he added, as the rain and wind intensified at Torrey Pines.

His winning margin shattered the previous tournament best of five set by fellow American Tom Watson in 1977 and equalled by Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

Woods joined Arnold Palmer in fourth place in the all-time standings for PGA Tour career victories. Only Sam Snead (82), Jack Nicklaus (73) and Ben Hogan (64) have won more.

With the bad weather forecast for Sunday not materialising until late in the final round, the only question on the lips of fans crammed around the South Course was the ultimate margin of Woods' victory.

The game's leading player has never lost a tournament when leading by more than one shot after 54 holes.

Eight times he has gone into the final round of a PGA Tour event with a cushion of more than six strokes and he has won by at least five shots on all eight occasions.

AAP