Tiger Woods stormed to his second successive US Masters title with yet another superb display at Augusta on Sunday.

The world number one dominated the final day from start to finish as he eased to a three-shot victory.

Final leaderboard US unless stated

12 under T Woods Nine under R Goosen (Rsa) Eight under P Mickelson Seven under JM Olazabal (Spa) Six under P Harrington (Ire) E Els (Rsa)

He tapped in for a par four at the last hole and a round of 71, giving him a 12-under-par total of 276 and his third winner's green jacket.

The 26-year-old becomes only the third player - after Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo - to win back-to-back Masters.

South Africa's Retief Goosen finished in second place on nine-under, with Phil Mickelson of the US one shot further back.

"This win was awfully special," Woods said.

"It seemed a little bit harder than the others - we had to play 27 holes on Saturday because of the weather delays and my legs were tired at the end."

Anti-climax

But it was all too-easy for Woods, as a showdown that had been billed as potentially one of the finest finishes in the history of Major tournaments proved a huge anti-climax.

Ernie Els blew his chance in spectacular style

Compared to the pyrotechnics of some of Woods' other famous wins, this was uninspiring stuff.

One by one his nearest challengers fall by the wayside, as the reputation of the man they call "The Phenom" wrecked their confidence and made a mess of their scorecards.

Great players were made to look like journeymen as they committed error after error - allowing Woods to pull away from the pack, despite only producing steady and unspectacular golf.

At the start of the day the leaderboard read like a rollcall of golfing greats.

Alongside Woods was the joint leader, US Open champion Goosen - while behind them were 2000 Masters winner Vijay Singh and big-hitting Ernie Els

Also loitering dangerously were Mickelson, rated the best player never to have won a Major, and dangerous Spanish pair Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal.

But none of them could cope with the daunting prospect of reeling in arguably the greatest player the game has ever known.

Rivals wobble

Goosen wobbled first and dropped two shots in the first four holes to fall way behind.

Next to go was Mickelson, who overshot the green at both the third and fourth holes and slipped down the leaderboard.

In trouble: Mickelson plays from behind a tree

Els' challenge disintegrated in spectacular fashion with an ugly eight at the 13th.

But Singh's demise was even worse as he twice found water at the 15th and carded a quadruple-bogey nine.

No-one could live with Woods and he was able to finish in far-from awesome fashion for a comfortable win.

Fans had been hoping for a battle royal on American golf's finest stage.

But this was more like a stroll in the park.