Tiger Woods cruised to his fourth title of the season as he prepared for the USPGA Championship with a runaway victory at the Buick Open in Michigan.

With the win, Woods improved his record to 25-2 on the PGA Tour when leading after 54 holes.

He carded a two-under-par 70 to finish the 72-hole event at 17 under on 271.

Woods said: "Sometimes I just beat the guys. Other times, I've gotten some great breaks that have allowed me to go on to win.

"You can't always play great all the time. You have to get some help, and I've got my share of good luck."

And the world number one admitted that he had played badly down the final stretch. He double-bogeyed the par-three 17th but still took a three-shot lead to the 18th.

"We play sports and we're all human," Woods added. "We're all going to make mistakes. As I said, I made my share of mistakes today, and you have to have a lot of luck on your side in order to win."

The victory was Woods' first during the week before a Major and in the last 33 years, only two players have won a Major the week after claiming another PGA Tour event.

"It's a weird phenomenon," said Woods. "I've won tournaments in the past back-to-back. I've won two tournaments in a row, and hopefully I can do it here."

Esteban Toledo began the day just a stroke behind Woods and stayed there for the first 12 holes but still could not manage his first win after six years on the PGA Tour.

He settled for his second career runner-up finish, ending up in a four-way tie at 13 under on 275 alongside Mark O'Meara, Brian Gay and Fred Funk.

Toledo was happy with his performance despite failing to put pressure on Woods.

"I guess I'm happy with the way I played, but I came up to win it, and it didn't happen," said Toledo. 

"Maybe I'll have another chance another day."

Collated final round scores (par 72):

271 Tiger Woods 67 63 71 70

275 Brian Gay 69 71 67 68, Esteban Toledo (Mex) 68 67 67 73, Fred Funk 71 66 67 71, Mark O'Meara 68 69 70 68

276 Bob Tway 71 65 68 72, Tom Byrum 70 68 68 70, Paul Azinger 69 70 69 68, Pat Bates 68 67 73 68

277 JJ Henry 67 67 76 67, Steve Flesch 72 68 66 71, David Toms 68 68 70 71, Jim Furyk 69 67 70 71

278 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 67 72 69, Kent Jones 65 70 70 73, Jeff Sluman 70 67 71 70, Tommy Tolles 72 64 71 71, Bob Burns 72 70 67 69, Glen Day 67 68 75 68, Jay Haas 67 72 72 67, Brian Henninger 71 70 67 70

279 Luke Donald (Gbr) 67 69 71 72, KJ Choi (Kor) 66 74 68 71, Scott Verplank 69 65 75 70, Chris DiMarco 68 72 70 69, Stephen Ames (Tri) 70 71 71 67, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 68 70 70, Tom Pernice Jr 69 68 73 69

280 Matt Peterson 73 69 68 70, John Senden (Aus) 68 69 71 72, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 70 69 69, David Morland IV 70 69 71 70, Brian Watts (Can) 71 68 72 69, Craig Barlow 71 71 68 70, Paul Goydos 71 70 69 70, Frank Lickliter II 67 73 71 69, Phil Mickelson 69 70 69 72, Kenny Perry 73 69 66 72

281 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 69 66 74 72, Robert Damron 67 69 72 73, Billy Andrade 68 71 72 70, Robin Freeman 70 69 73 69

282 Ben Crane 70 69 72 71, Brett Wetterich 74 68 67 73, Craig Perks (Nzl) 70 72 71 69, Jose Coceres (Arg) 73 66 72 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 68 67 73 74, Mike Weir (Can) 72 67 74 69, Vijay Singh (Fij) 70 68 74 70, Greg Kraft 73 69 70 70, Blaine McCallister 68 68 71 75, Dicky Pride 70 70 71 71

283 Glen Hnatiuk (Can) 74 68 69 72, Tom Gillis 71 69 73 70, Richard Coughlan (Irl) 71 68 71 73, Jeff Brehaut 72 66 71 74, Tom Scherrer 70 72 72 69, Jay Williamson 71 71 69 72, Bart Bryant 67 69 73 74, John Cook 69 71 73 70, Fred Couples 70 70 72 71, David Berganio Jr 68 74 70 71, JL Lewis 70 71 74 68, Billy Mayfair 72 70 69 72, Carl Paulson 70 70 69 74

284 Stephen Allan (Aus) 72 68 71 73, Russ Cochran 71 68 68 77, Joel Edwards 69 70 72 73, Corey Pavin 70 72 70 72

285 Kenneth Staton 74 67 73 71, Mark Brooks 66 74 73 72, Shaun Micheel 68 72 75 70

286 Mike Heinen 72 68 71 75, Brad Lardon 69 71 74 72, David Peoples 72 70 74 70

288 Heath Slocum 69 73 71 75, Jeff Gallagher 68 74 74 72

289 Tripp Isenhour 73 67 76 73, Skip Kendall 69 72 76 72

290 Franklin Langham 73 69 74 74

293 Phil Tataurangi (Nzl) 71 71 76 75

298 Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 72 69 79 78