Woods ties Palmer for fourth on PGA Tour's career wins list

~ Tiger collected his 62nd career win with an eight-shot victory at the Buick Invitational.

SAN DIEGO -- Tiger Woods joined the King, and left everyone else at the Buick Invitational feeling like paupers.

In his most dominant start to a season, Woods built an 11-shot lead Sunday until his game and the fickle weather turned cold on the back nine. A birdie on the last hole gave him a 1-under 71 and an eight-shot victory, giving him 62 for his career to tie Arnold Palmer on the PGA Tour list.

"I'm sure that there are many, many more coming in the future," Palmer said. "There isn't any question about that."

Just like there was no question about the outcome.

Woods opened with a 40-foot birdie putt, threw in a 60-foot birdie just to keep a four-deep gallery from falling asleep, and only looked mortal when he made three straight bogeys toward the end of his round.

All that did was affect the final margin, not the name on the trophy.

Woods finished at 18-under 270 to win the Buick Invitational for the fourth consecutive year, tying a PGA Tour record for consecutive wins in a single tournament. Woods is the only player to own such a streak at two events, having also won four in a row at Bay Hill.

Ryuji Imada matched the best score of the final round with a 67 and was the runner-up.

Woods returns to Torrey Pines in June for the U.S. Open, and if this week was any indication, it could be another long week for his peers. The world's No. 1 player now has won six times as a pro at Torrey Pines, and his comment that the Grand Slam is "easily within reason" looked every bit of that.

"What he's going to do is screw the U.S. Open up for everyone else," Fred Couples said. "If he had shot 10 or 11 under, the USGA would have said, 'Well, maybe we have it in the right spot.' Now, they may have to regroup a little."

Then again, it might not matter.

Woods has won his last two PGA Tour events by eight shots, and this was the ninth time in his career he has won by at least eight.

"I wanted to go out there and make no bogeys and shoot something under par," Woods said. "I got half of it right."

The 71 ended Woods' streak of 14 consecutive rounds in the 60s, dating to the second round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. He has finished no worse than second since the British Open in July, when he tied for 12th at Carnoustie.

Woods planned to leave Sunday night for the Dubai Desert Classic, and he likely won't return to the PGA Tour until the end of February at the Accenture Match Play Championship. Next in line on the career list is Ben Hogan with 64 victories, and each win moves Woods closer to the record 82 won by Sam Snead.

"You'd like to think it's surprising, but it's not," Charles Howell III said. "It's Tiger."

Woods is 6-of-12 in his PGA Tour debuts, but he has never won with such ease. He went back to work after the holidays, and it was as if last year never ended.

"He's just much better," said Couples, who posted his first top-10 finish since the 2006 Masters. "It's fun to see. I've been on tour for 28 years, and I've never seen this stuff."

Imada birdied his last two holes to finish alone in second at 11-under 277 and was thrilled.

"This is the Tiger Woods Invitational, isn't it?" he said. "I thought he was the host."

The Buick Invitational is the third PGA Tour event Woods has won six times. The others are the Bridgestone Invitational and the CA Championship, both World Golf Championship events.

"My goal going into today was to finish second," Imada said. "That's almost like winning the golf tournament to me."

Champions Tour

Jerry Pate handled the howling wind to win the Turtle Bay Championship in Kahuku, Hawaii, closing with a 2-under 70 for a two-stroke victory over Jim Thorpe and senior rookie Fulton Allem.

The 54-year-old Pate, four strokes behind leader Gil Morgan after the second round, breezed to a 5-under 211 total for his first victory in 39 starts and second career Champions Tour title.