Woods cruises to victory

Tiger Woods cruised to his fourth title of the season as he prepared for the USPGA Championship with a runaway victory at the Buick Open in Michigan.

With the win, Woods improved his record to 25-2 on the PGA Tour when leading after 54 holes.

He carded a two-under-par 70 to finish the 72-hole event at 17 under on 271.

Woods said: “Sometimes I just beat the guys. Other times, I’ve gotten some great breaks that have allowed me to go on to win.

“You can’t always play great all the time. You have to get some help, and I’ve got my share of good luck.”

And the world number one admitted that he had played badly down the final stretch. He double-bogeyed the par-three 17th but still took a three-shot lead to the 18th.

“We play sports and we’re all human,” Woods added. “We’re all going to make mistakes. As I said, I made my share of mistakes today, and you have to have a lot of luck on your side in order to win.”

The victory was Woods’ first during the week before a Major and in the last 33 years, only two players have won a Major the week after claiming another PGA Tour event.

“It’s a weird phenomenon,” said Woods. “I’ve won tournaments in the past back-to-back. I’ve won two tournaments in a row, and hopefully I can do it here.”

Esteban Toledo began the day just a stroke behind Woods and stayed there for the first 12 holes but still could not manage his first win after six years on the PGA Tour.

He settled for his second career runner-up finish, ending up in a four-way tie at 13 under on 275 alongside Mark O’Meara, Brian Gay and Fred Funk.

Toledo was happy with his performance despite failing to put pressure on Woods.

“I guess I’m happy with the way I played, but I came up to win it, and it didn’t happen,” said Toledo.

“Maybe I’ll have another chance another day.”