Woods has enjoyed plenty of success at Torrey Pines

FINAL LEADERBOARD
(US unless stated):
-19 T Woods
-11 R Imada (Jap)
-9 R Sabbatini (SA), S Cink
Selected others:
-6 P Mickelson
-3 K Ferrie (Eng)
-2 K Pettersson (Swe)
-1 V Singh (Fij)

Tiger Woods made a winning start to his 2008 campaign with a fourth straight victory in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines near San Diego.

Woods finished on 19 under, eight shots clear of Japan's Ryuki Imada, for his sixth win in the event overall.

It put him alongside Arnold Palmer with 62 career victories in joint fourth place on the all-time PGA Tour list.

Woods now only trails Sam Snead (82), Jack Nicklaus (73) and Ben Hogan (64) in the standings.

Palmer paid tribute to Woods's achievements, and said: "I'm sure that there are many, many more (wins) coming in the future, and I wish him all the luck in the world."

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Woods began the third round eight shots clear of the rest of the field - his largest 54-hole lead since he led by 10 on his way to a 15-shot victory in the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach.

He made the perfect start to his final round with a 40ft birdie putt at the first, and led by 10 strokes midway through the round.

Not even a run of three bogeys in a row from the 14th could stop his progress for long and he sealed his success with a birdie at the last.

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

He has now won the Buick in five of the last six years, and added: "Ever since junior golf, I really seemed to have played well here. It fits my eye, I feel very comfortable.

That's almost like winning the golf tournament to me Ryuki Imada on his second place

"It's just one of those things where some people just have an affinity for certain golf courses.

"My buddy (Mark) O'Meara won five times up at Pebble Beach, I guess Sam (Snead) at Greensboro and (Jack) Nicklaus at Augusta.

"Guys that have won a number of times at certain venues and somehow this golf course seems to have been pretty good for me."

Imada was delighted by his final-day surge up the leaderboard, thanks to nine birdies, to finish second.

"That was my goal going into Sunday, and you know, that's almost like winning the golf tournament to me," he said.

"With Tiger having an eight-shot lead or whatever there was pretty much no chance for me to catch him."