Woods wins his second Claret Jug.

Tiger Woods cruised to his second Open championship and 10th major title.

Woods carded a final round 70 for a 14 under total of 274 at St Andrews, five shots clear of Colin Montgomerie who could only manage a closing 72.

It was Montgomerie's fourth second place in a major but his best performance since taking sixth in the 1999 USPGA.

Former Masters champions Fred Couples, 45, and Jose Maria Olazabal took third on eight under after rounds of 68 and 74 respectively.

Australia's Geoff Ogilvy, Bernhard Langer, Vijay Singh, US Open champion Michael Campbell, Retief Goosen and Sergio Garcia shared fifth a shot further back.

Woods, who also won the US Masters in April, began the final round with a two-shot lead over playing partner Olazabal, with Montgomerie and Goosen a shot further back.

Goosen was the first to drop out of contention but Olazabal and Montgomerie refused to let Woods out of their sights in the early stages, closing the gap to a single shot.

The 29-year-old was doing just enough to keep the chasing pack at bay however, two-putting every hole in a front nine of 34.

A bogey at the 10th, where he drove into one of the 112 bunkers he had avoided for all 72 holes in 2000, briefly gave Montgomerie and Olazabal hope, but those hopes quickly faded in a crucial one-minute spell.

First Montgomerie, who had played superbly to be out in 33, bogeyed the 13th after coming up short of the green with his approach and missing from six feet for par.

Then it was Olazabal's turn to drop a shot, this time at the short par four 12th, and finally Woods pitched to four feet on the same hole for birdie to move to 14 under par - four clear of the field.

Another birdie followed on the 14th and Woods could easily afford the luxury of a bogey on the 17th.

Graeme McDowell had set the early clubhouse target on six under after a best-of-the-day 67, a total later matched by English duo Ian Poulter and Nick Faldo.

Faldo produced a stunning birdie-eagle finish at the scene of his 1990 triumph, and promptly offered to sell it to the highest bidder.

How Montgomerie would have loved to have needed to take him up on that offer.

Collated final totals (GB & Ire unless stated, (x) amateur

274 Tiger Woods (USA) 66 67 71 70 (£720,000)

279 Colin Montgomerie 71 66 70 72 (£430,000)

280 Fred Couples (USA) 68 71 73 68, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) 68 70 68 74 (£242,500 each)

281 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 71 74 67 69, Bernhard Langer (Ger) 71 69 70 71, Vijay Singh (Fij) 69 69 71 72, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 69 72 68 72, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 69 69 73 , Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 73 66 74 (£ 122,166 each)

282 Graeme McDowell 69 72 74 67, Ian Poulter 70 72 71 69, Nick Faldo 74 69 70 69, Kenny Perry (USA) 71 71 68 72

283 David Frost (Rsa) 77 65 72 69, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 73 69 71 70, Mark Hensby (Aus) 67 77 69 70, (x) Lloyd Saltman 73 71 68 71, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 68 70 73 72, John Daly (USA) 71 69 70 73, Sean O'Hair (USA) 73 67 70 73, Darren Clarke 73 70 67 73

284 (x) Eric Ramsay 68 74 74 68, Tom Lehman (USA) 75 69 70 70, Tadahiro Takayama (Jpn) 72 72 70 70, Scott Drummond 74 71 69 70, Nicholas Flanagan (Aus) 73 71 69 71, Scott Verplank (USA) 68 70 72 74, Bart Bryant (USA) 69 70 71 74, Tim Clark (Rsa) 71 69 70 74, Brad Faxon (USA) 72 66 70 76

285 Richard Green (Aus) 72 68 72 73, Sandy Lyle 74 67 69 75

286 Joe Ogilvie (USA) 74 70 73 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 74 67 75 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 71 75 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 72 71 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 74 67 73 72, Simon Dyson 70 71 72 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 70 71 70 75

287 Paul McGinley 70 75 73 69, Simon Khan 69 70 78 70, Tom Watson (USA) 75 70 70 72, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 72 68 74 73, Steve Webster 71 72 71 73, Kyoung Ju Choi (Kor) 75 68 71 73, Tim Herron (USA) 73 72 68 74, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 72 68 72 75, Bob Tway (USA) 69 71 72 75, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 70 67 77, Soren Hansen (Den) 72 72 66 77

288 Justin Leonard (USA) 73 71 75 69, Luke Donald 68 73 77 70, Paul Lawrie 72 71 75 70, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 68 79 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 69 72 76 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 68 75 72, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 71 70 72 75, Bo Van Pelt (USA) 72 67 73 76

289 Tino Schuster (Ger) 68 74 74 73, Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 70 73 73 73, John Bickerton 75 70 71 73, (x) Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 70 74 75, Phil Mickelson (USA) 74 67 72 76, Greg Norman (Aus) 72 71 70 76

290 Peter Lonard (Aus) 68 70 77 75

291 Duffy Waldorf (USA) 74 68 81 68, Robert Rock 73 71 75 72, Chris Riley (USA) 68 73 75 75, Chris DiMarco (USA) 75 69 71 76, Pat Perez (USA) 72 70 72 77, David Smail (Nzl) 73 72 69 77

292 Patrik Sjoland (Swe) 74 71 76 71

293 Ted Purdy (USA) 72 72 77 72, Scott Gutschewski (USA) 76 69 75 73, S K Ho (Kor) 73 71 72 77

294 Steve Flesch (USA) 74 70 72 78

296 Graeme Storm 75 70 80 71, Rod Pampling (Aus) 74 71 71 80

297 (x) Matthew Richardson 75 69 77 76