Tiger Woods nearly pulled off a historic comeback but Ernie Els was unflappable as he claimed the Genuity Championship title in Miami for his first PGA Tour victory in 19 months.

Els has a recent history of runner-up finishes to Woods, and almost saw the PGA Player of the Year make up an eight-shot deficit.

The South African laboured to an even-par 72 to end the tournament at 17-under 271, while Woods birdied his first three holes.

But the American cooled off, and his six-under 66, the lowest round of the day, was not enough as it left him at on 15-under 273.

No player has ever rallied from more than six shots after three rounds on a US PGA Tour event but Woods seemed a likely candidate to do it and Els seemed a likely victim.

Winless in seven PGA Tour starts dating to last season, Woods has erased four 54-hole deficits of at least four shots during a brief but legendary career on the circuit.

He also has had Els' number, most recently rallying from eight shots down on the final day to edge him at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand last year.

Woods also defeated Els by a stroke at Disney World in 1999, beat him in a play-off at Kapalua in 2000 and banished him to runner-up finishes two years ago at the US Open and The Open.

But an eight-shot lead was big enough for Els, who had gone 20 events between titles.

Collated final-round scores and totals (US unless stated, Par 72)

271 Ernie Els (Rsa) 66 67 66 72

273 Tiger Woods 67 70 70 66

277 Peter Lonard (Aus) 70 67 70 70

279 Rich Beem 69 68 72 70

280 Craig Perks 71 68 70 71, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 72 70 71 67, Vijay Singh (Fij) 66 73 70 71, Steve Elkington 67 71 74 68, Nick Price (Zim) 69 69 75 67

281 Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 71 67 72 71

282 Pat Perez 69 69 75 69, Paul Azinger 69 72 71 70, Justin Leonard 67 70 72 73

283 Fred Funk 68 72 71 72, Craig Parry 68 72 71 72

284 Ian Leggatt (Can) 71 67 73 73, Stephen Allan 66 73 71 74, Briny Baird 69 66 78 71, Mike Weir (Can) 70 71 73 70, Tom Scherrer 71 71 69 73, Steve Stricker 71 72 73 68, David Toms 67 74 75 68, Len Mattiace 70 69 74 71

285 Brian Bateman 71 71 74 69, Ben Crane 71 73 69 72, Brian Gay 74 70 71 70, Stewart Cink 67 74 74 70, Robert Damron 68 73 73 71, Brent Geiberger 69 70 75 71, Jay Haas 70 70 73 72, Skip Kendall 67 70 77 71, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 67 72 74 72, Greg Norman (Aus) 71 73 71 70

286 Paul Gow (Aus) 73 69 71 73, Luke Donald (Eng) 68 75 72 71, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 70 71 72, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68 70 73 75

287 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 78 65 76 68, Stephen Ames (Can) 70 74 72 71, Lee Janzen 68 71 77 71

288 Erik Compton 71 70 78 69, Brian Watts 69 73 74 72, Chris Smith 68 74 74 72, Bob Tway 68 71 75 74, Grant Waite 72 68 75 73, Bob Burns 71 73 72 72, Greg Kraft 66 75 74 73, Neal Lancaster 71 71 76 70, Steve Lowery 73 71 72 72, Billy Mayfair 69 75 71 73, David Peoples 70 73 71 74

289 Charles Howell III 69 72 73 75, Mike Sposa 69 73 75 72, Joey Sindelar 71 71 76 71, Duffy Waldorf 69 72 78 70, Tommy Armour III 67 72 71 79, Jay Don Blake 70 73 69 77, Spike McRoy 69 75 70 75, Lee Porter 67 72 77 73

290 Carlos Franco (Par) 69 73 72 76, Paul Claxton 70 71 73 76, Dudley Hart 69 74 76 71

291 James Driscoll 72 72 73 74, David Gossett 69 73 76 73, Andrew Magee 68 74 77 72, Shaun Micheel 67 76 79 69

292 Jerry Smith 72 72 78 70, Rodney Pampling 74 70 76 72, JJ Henry 68 76 77 71, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 69 71 78 74, Brandel Chamblee 70 73 77 72, Chris DiMarco 65 79 75 73

293 Brandt Jobe 70 72 75 76, Hal Sutton 69 74 76 74, Tom Pernice Jr. 73 69 79 72

294 Edward Fryatt (Eng) 72 70 79 73, Brent Schwarzrock 70 74 74 76, John Huston 70 73 80 71, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 69 75 75 75

295 Tim Petrovic 68 72 80 75

296 Deane Pappas 69 74 78 75

298 Brad Elder 71 71 83 73

299 John Rollins 73 70 81 75