Two extra holes were needed for Tiger Woods to win the Buick Invitational, though for a time it appeared Woods did not want to win his first event of the year.

Woods shot an even-par 72 at the South Course at Torrey Pines to finish at 10-under-par 278. He defeated Jose Maria Olazabal and Nathan Green in the sudden death play-off.

It was the fourth time Woods has won this event (1999, 2003 and 2005), but this was the first time in a play-off. His US Tour record in play-offs is now 9-1, with his only loss coming to Billy Mayfair at the 1998 Nissan Open at Valencia Country Club, north of Los Angeles.

This was also the fourth time Woods won his season-opening event. Woods won the Mercedes Championship in 1997 and 2000. He also used the Buick to start his year in 2003, winning after coming back from left knee surgery.

"I have played here since I was 12 and really enjoy playing here," Woods said. "There is not too many golf courses you play where it just fits your eye, but this is one of the golf courses for me. I feel very comfortable here."

Early in the final round, it did not appear Woods would be in contention for the play-off.

Woods was a stroke behind leaders Sergio Garcia and Rod Pampling to begin the round, but shot a one-over 37 on the front nine. On the back nine, he made bogey on the 11th, birdies on 12 and 13 and another bogey on the 14th.

"Quite frankly I probably should not have been in the play-off," Woods said. "I figured the guys would probably get to at least 12 or 13 (under) and I was not putting very good at all."

When Woods reached the final hole, Green and Olazabal were already finished at 10-under and he needed a birdie to tie and an eagle to win.

Woods used the five-wood he put in his bag this week and his second shot ended up 73 feet from the hole.

Three-putting was a concern for Woods. He had not made birdie on the final hole all week. He also had not made a putt over 10 feet since the middle of the second round.

His first putt was not close, ending up eight feet wide to the right. He calmly made it to join the play-off.

"This week it was one of those weeks where either I hit it great or I didn't hit it at all or I made nothing," Woods said. "There was no grey area this week for some reason."

Green, who was playing in just the third PGA Tour event of his career, bowed out first in the play-off, flubbing a chip off the side of the 18th green on the first play-off hole and eventually making a bogey.

"I thought Tiger was probably going to make his putt there," Green said. "I wanted to give myself a bit of a chance at it, but it just didn't come off."

Olazabal had a chance to take the play-off to a third hole, but missed a four-foot par putt when it burned the left edge of the par-three, 16th hole.

"I would have loved to have made that putt and keep on playing the play-off, but I didn't hit it hard enough," Olazabal said. "It was a tricky putt."

The play-off was not nearly as wild as regulation. At one point seven golfers were tied for the lead: John Rollins, Olazabal, Arjun Atwal, Green, Phil Mickelson, Rodney Pampling and Woods.

Woods dropped out with a bogey on the 11th hole, and Lucas Glover took his spot. Then Woods made it nine golfers tied for the lead when he made an eight-foot birdie putt on 12.

Green led for three holes on the back nine and broke the tie in a big way when he made eagle on the 13th hole. With a wedge from 77 yards out Green's ball hit before the hole bounced over it and then spun back in. He reached the final hole needing a birdie to tie Olazabal and made a seven-foot putt to earn a spot in the play-off.

Olazabal shot a three-under 69, including a 33 on the front nine. He shot an even-par 36 on the back, but needed a 36-foot two-putt on the final hole to reach 10 under.

Collated final round scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 72):

278 Tiger Woods 71 68 67 72 (Won at the second Play-off hole), Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 74 64 71 69, Nathan Green (Aus) 67 70 69 72

279 John Rollins 69 70 71 69, Jonathan Kaye 67 73 71 68, Lucas Glover 71 67 70 71, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 70 67 71 71

280 Phil Mickelson 71 67 69 73, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 69 68 68 75

281 Brandt Jobe 65 67 75 74, Tim Clark (Rsa) 68 66 74 73, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 67 68 76, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 68 72 70 71, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 67 67 73 74

282 Arron Oberholser 70 70 73 69

283 Skip Kendall 66 72 75 70, Tom Lehman 74 66 73 70, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 71 72 70, Charley Hoffman 66 74 70 73, Kent Jones 66 72 75 70, Mark O'Meara 74 67 72 70, Brett Quigley 66 76 69 72, Todd Fischer 71 67 72 73

284 Kevin Stadler 67 72 71 74, Davis Love III 74 67 74 69, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 66 74 71 73, Luke Donald (Eng) 75 67 72 70

285 J.B. Holmes 68 71 76 70, Troy Matteson 71 68 72 74, Robert Garrigus 72 71 73 69, Stewart Cink 75 68 71 71, Chad Campbell 72 66 74 73, Craig Barlow 66 71 75 73, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 72 65 75 73

286 D.A. Points 68 72 71 75, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 73 66 74 73, Ryan Palmer 76 62 75 73, Ben Curtis 71 71 73 71

287 Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 66 72 76 73, Pat Perez 75 67 71 74, Charles Howell III 69 72 72 74, Vance Veazey 73 68 70 76

288 Patrick Sheehan 70 73 75 70, James Driscoll 71 71 73 73, John Mallinger 72 71 71 74, Frank Lickliter II 72 67 72 77, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 75 67 76 70, Tommy Armour III 72 70 71 75

289 Ted Purdy 71 70 76 72, J.L. Lewis 76 67 75 71, Vaughn Taylor 74 69 73 73, Hank Kuehne 71 69 76 73, Nick Watney 66 74 72 77, Zach Johnson 71 68 77 73, Matt Hansen 75 66 73 75

290 Joey Sindelar 67 76 71 76, Bubba Watson 72 70 69 79, Brent Geiberger 72 71 75 72, Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn) 74 68 74 74, Thomas Levet (Fra) 65 73 77 75, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 71 66 77 76, Scott McCarron 74 69 73 74

291 Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 68 75 75 73, Chris Smith 75 68 74 74, John Daly 69 71 74 77, Billy Mayfair 67 75 76 73, Fred Couples 74 66 80 71, Roger Tambellini 70 73 72 76, Brian Davis (Eng) 68 73 75 75

292 Marco Dawson 72 68 75 77, Bob Tway 70 72 75 75, Jonathan Byrd 67 75 72 78, Kevin Sutherland 75 68 74 75, Steve Lowery 67 69 76 80, Shane Bertsch 67 76 70 79

293 Chris Riley 74 69 75 75, Bubba Dickerson 76 66 73 78, Chris Couch 67 74 73 79

294 Woody Austin 69 71 75 79, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 73 69 75 77

296 Nicholas Thompson 67 75 78 76

299 Chris Starkjohann 72 71 83 73