Fiji's Vijay Singh clinched the Tour Championship title with a final round of 67 at the East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

He finished on 12 under par, two strokes ahead of day two leader Charles Howell III.

Singh was the overnight leader and despite bogeying the 1st, he never relinquished his advantage.

Three consecutive birdies from the 9th put him well on course for his 11th PGA Tour title, and he added another birdie at the 15th.

Singh's early dropped shot meant Howell was within a stroke of him but the American did not sink his first birdie until the 12th.

A five-under 30 on the back nine gave the 2001 Rookie of the Year a 66 and second place.

World numbers one and two Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were in the penultimate pairing but never threatened.

Woods hit a 70 to tie for seventh while Mickelson shot a 69 and tied for fifth.

For Singh, to finally win a Tour Championship at East Lake must have come as a relief.

At both of the two previous events held at the course, Singh had also led after three rounds but had not gone on to win.

The $900,000 (�575,000) prize money means he finishes the season third on the money list with a career-best $3.75m (�2.4m).

He also won the $500,000 (�320,000) bonus for finishing top of the standings in the PGA Tour's Fall Finish.

Woods, who finished the year with a tour-best five titles, tied Tom Watson's record by winning his fourth straight money title.

Scores after the final round of the USPGA Tour Championship (US unless noted):

268 Vijay Singh (Fij) 65 71 65 67
270 Charles Howell III 66 69 69 66
273 David Toms 70 66 70 67
274 Jerry Kelly 71 69 67 67
275 Davis Love III 72 70 68 65, Phil Mickelson 70 69 67 69
276 Chris DiMarco 70 68 69 69, Tiger Woods 71 68 67 70
277 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 69 72 67, KJ Choi (Kor) 71 68 70 68
278 Bob Estes 72 69 73 64, Scott McCarron 70 69 69 70
279 Rocco Mediate 74 73 68 64, Ernie Els (Rsa) 73 69 70 67, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 68 73 70 68, John Rollins 70 71 70 68, Steve Lowery 65 71 73 70
280 Justin Leonard 71 73 71 65, Jim Furyk 68 73 72 67, Len Mattiace 68 68 74 70, Kenny Perry 71 69 68 72
281 Nick Price (Zim) 73 68 68 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 74 69 66 72
282 Fred Funk 67 71 76 68, Jeff Sluman 72 72 68 70
283 Chris Riley 72 69 74 68, Rich Beem 70 72 70 71
285 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 73 72 69
287 Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 74 71 71 71
289 Loren Roberts 71 71 77 70