The greatest front-runner golf has ever known did it again at St Andrews - and now he has two Open titles and 10 majors to his name.

Try as Colin Montgomerie and Jose Maria Olazabal did to bring down Tiger Woods and end Europe's six-year drought in the majors, the world number one was simply too good.

Incredibly, this was the 10th time Woods had taken a lead into the final day of a major and the 10th time he has flown off with the trophy.

And it was not even close come the final holes.

The 29-year-old American held all the aces once he had withstood the early challenge and with a closing 70 for a 14-under-par total of 274 Woods, two ahead at the start of the day, finished it five clear.

For Montgomerie, who has never previously finished higher than eighth in the Open, a level-par 72 meant a fourth runners-up finish in majors.

But this one ultimately had none of the dramatic heartbreak of the other three - two play-off defeats and a one-shot loss. He knew he had been well beaten by a better player.

"It's never a disgrace to lose to the best player of our generation by far," he said. "But I will take positives from this. I am back in the position I was in the 90s.

"Things were not going well and it's nice to be back in this theatre.

"We've had three majors this year and he's won two and finished second in the other. He's over halfway to Jack Nicklaus' 18 and it will be very interesting to see what happens.

"I said I wanted a 66 and 15 under was the target. It would have won, but the pin placings were very tough.

"The crowds were phenomenal, though. Leaving the first tee was amazing - I'd thought I had won it before I started.

"I had a reasonable start and was one behind at the turn, but I hit a six-iron instead of a seven-iron at the 11th and that threw me."

Woods commented: "This is a dream come true to win at the home of golf again. This is as good as it gets.

"I hit the ball so good and it was so much fun to control the ball like I did. I played really good coming in.

"All the hours I've put in with Hank (coach Hank Haney) has been a lot of fun. People criticised us, but this is the reason why - so I could be play at this level."

Olazabal, meanwhile, bogeyed four of the last seven holes before closing with a birdie to take joint third place with 45-year-old American Fred Couples.

Joint 22nd at the start of the day Couples shot 68 and capitalised on the fact that Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh, US Open champion Michael Campbell and others all failed to make their presence felt.

Woods now joins Jack Nicklaus as the only two golfers in history to win each of the four major championships twice and they are also the only two to win the Open twice around the Old Course since World War Two.

Moreover, this emphatic victory maintained an astonishing record of Woods winning every time Nicklaus has announced his retirement.

It also happened at the US Open and US PGA in 2000 and the Masters this April.

In a way you can add the 2000 Open to that list - Nicklaus thought that would be final appearance in the event, but changed his mind when St Andrews was chosen as the venue this year.

After the shock wins of Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton the last two Opens normal service was resumed.

The bookmakers had it right from day one when Woods took the lead with a 66. When he added a second-round 67 he was four clear and bang on track to match his major record 19-under-par total of five years ago.

That disappeared over the horizon when he managed "only" a Saturday-71, but the important thing for him was that he was still out in front. He knew his record from that position - 31 wins out of 34 in all tournaments - and he knew that others knew.

The battle was still on after 11 holes with Woods 13 under and both Montgomerie and Olazabal 11 under.

But as he birdied the 348-yard 12th thanks to a delicate chip to four feet, playing partner Olazabal, nearly in gorse off the tee, bogeyed it and in the group ahead Montgomerie failed to get up and down from the rough just short of the green.

The Scot, carrying the hopes of the vast majority of fans, had been very much in the hunt for a first major when he turned for home only one behind.

But the error on the 13th came after he had also bogeyed the short 11th and suddenly Woods was four clear and there was an air of inevitability about the outcome. In truth, it had always been there to some degree or other.

This was not the demolition job of 2000, when he did not go in a single bunker, but it still showed him to be a class apart.

For Montgomerie and Olazabal the prize which would have meant so much was denied them, but they can hold their heads high for the effort they put in.

Montgomerie had not had a top-10 finish in any major since 1999, but when paired with Woods in the third round he out-scored him, albeit by only one when he was four behind, and an outward 33 kept the dream alive.

If it had been anybody but Woods ahead of him this might have given him that so-elusive first major triumph. But Montgomerie had a sense that Woods' penultimate round was probably his one slack one and so it proved.

At 42 the seven-time European number one, whose quest for glory cost him his marriage, may never be in the same position again.

The same applies to Olazabal, who will be 40 next year and who in 19 previous Opens had managed only one top 10.

But he too contributed mightily to a championship he was not even in until his former Ryder Cup partner Seve Ballesteros pulled out two and a half weeks ago.

Montgomerie and Olazabal did more than just jockey for second position over the front nine, but they could never get on terms with Woods, who two-putted every hole.

The one at the long fifth gave him birdie, but he unexpectedly missed chances of six and three feet on the seventh and eighth.

There was a hope for the two seasoned Europeans at the point and even more when Woods, after another two-putt birdie at the driveable ninth, went in his fourth bunker of the week on the next and bogeyed.

It had come down to a three-man fight unless something extraordinary happened to Woods. But minutes later the gap was suddenly four and everybody sensed that, with this particular man out in front, it was all over.

It was.

Woods pitched to six feet to birdie the long 14th and go five clear. When Montgomerie bogeyed the 16th the gulf was six.

A bogey at the Road Hole 17th mattered not a jot.

He is not 30 until December and he has got to double figures in the majors quicker than Nicklaus. With two out of three this year nobody is questioning his ability to maintain the pace.

Nicklaus was hailed as the finest golfer ever when he bowed out to a rapturous ovation on Friday. At 65 he may well live long enough to pass that accolade on.

And one early tip. The next time the Open is at St Andrews, probably in 2010, get your money on Woods.

One punter placed £100,000 on him at 3/1 before the off this week. He did not even have to sweat for it over the closing stretch.

Collated final totals in The Open Championship, St Andrews (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72

((x) denotes amateurs)

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