In the month he celebrates 10 years as a professional, Tiger Woods achieved his 50th US Tour win - from a mere 196 events.

Two weeks on from his Open championship victory, Woods had four successive 66s and took the Buick Open at Warwick Hills in Michigan with a 24-under-par total and by three from likely Ryder Cup partner Jim Furyk.

Just six other players - Sam Snead, Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson and Billy Casper - have reached the 50-title landmark. But at his current strike rate of five per year Woods will overtake Snead's record 82 when he is only 37.

It was the 48th occasion in Woods' career that he had taken at least a share of the lead into the final round - and the 43rd time he had turned it into success.

Moreover, he made it 21 out of 21 in US Tour events that he won from being at least two strokes ahead with 18 holes to play. Worldwide he has now triumphed 68 times in 241 tournaments.

Challenges were made to him, but each time he responded - as he has so often in the past.

Three birdies in the first four holes brought Vaughn Taylor level, but Woods' answer to that threat was a hat-trick of birdies from the third.

He then added another on the long seventh to turn in 32, but when he bogeyed the 340-yard 12th after messing up his attempt to drive the green, he was caught by Furyk's closing 64.

However, Woods, even after driving up against a tree on the par five 13th, still birdied the hole with a brilliant pitch over the water that spun back to within a foot of the hole.

And when he hit a towering 198-yard seven-iron to three feet at the 15th - the hardest hole on the course - he widened the gap further.

There was the distraction of an apple being thrown across the green after he putted for birdie at the 17th, but after saving par there he rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt on the last to put the icing on the cake.

Third on 20 under, four behind, was Joe Durant, while Taylor's closing 40-foot par putt for a share of fourth lifted him back into the top 10 in America's Ryder Cup race with just two more events to go.

Meanwhile, Billy Mayfair, still in with a chance of making the team and 40 today, is recovering from surgery for testicular cancer.

The problem was diagnosed earlier this week and the operation carried out in Arizona on Thursday.

Mayfair, who hopes he might be able to return at the US PGA Championship starting on Thursday week, said: "I'm doing well and I want to thank everyone for their well wishes and support."

Collated final round scores and totals in the USPGA Buick Open, Warwick Hills G& CC, United States of America

(USA unless stated, par 72):

264 Tiger Woods 66 66 66 66

267 Jim Furyk 66 68 69 64

268 Joe Durant 65 69 67 67

269 Vaughn Taylor 67 71 63 68, Sean O'Hair 68 68 66 67, Scott Verplank 68 66 66 69

270 Brett Quigley 65 66 71 68, Woody Austin 65 69 68 68, Harrison Frazar 70 64 69 67, Tom Pernice Jnr. 69 69 68 64

271 Kenny Perry 68 70 68 65, Vijay Singh (Fij) 64 69 68 70, Craig Barlow 71 67 67 66, Camilo Villegas (Col) 66 72 66 67

272 Robert Allenby (Aus) 67 67 66 72, Lucas Glover 67 67 66 72, Brian Gay 71 68 65 68, Skip Kendall 70 67 68 67, Stephen Ames (Can) 69 66 66 71

274 Charley Hoffman 68 67 67 72, Jay Delsing 68 68 68 70, David McKenzie (Aus) 68 70 68 68, John Rollins 70 69 68 67, Mike Weir (Can) 63 70 68 73

275 Charles Warren 71 68 68 68, Greg Kraft 70 69 68 68, Fred Funk 69 69 68 69

276 Kent Jones 72 67 68 69, Brad Faxon 72 69 69 66, J J Henry 72 67 68 69, Paul Goydos 70 66 71 69, Dicky Pride 71 69 67 69

277 Zach Johnson 71 65 70 71, Jeff Sluman 66 67 72 72, Scott Gutschewski 69 68 68 72, Shane Bertsch 70 68 66 73, Michael Connell 70 70 68 69, Danny Ellis 71 70 70 66, Bob Tway 71 69 70 67

278 Jeff Overton 69 71 69 69, Bart Bryant 69 68 73 68, Steve Lowery 68 68 72 70, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 69 66 72 71, Jeff Brehaut 75 65 69 69, James Driscoll 71 66 69 72, Mark Wilson 72 67 69 70, Mark O'Meara 71 70 69 68, Corey Pavin 70 69 70 69, Jimmy Walker 72 67 70 69

279 John Daly 69 69 68 73, Nathan Green (Aus) 69 71 71 68, David Branshaw 70 69 67 73

280 Nick Watney 70 68 68 74, Bo Van Pelt 67 66 74 73, Kris Cox 68 69 72 71, Todd Fischer 67 68 74 71, Frank Lickliter II 68 70 70 72

281 Bob Estes 70 68 69 74, Jeff Gove 70 71 69 71

282 Steve Flesch 72 65 73 72, Ryan Palmer 68 70 73 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 69 69 72, Olin Browne 68 69 73 72, Bob May 74 65 71 72, Brian Bateman 70 70 72 70

283 John Cook 73 67 70 73

284 Arron Oberholser 66 75 73 70, J.P. Hayes 70 67 74 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 70 71 72

285 Rodney Pampling (Aus) 73 68 71 73, Duffy Waldorf 71 69 71 74, Bill Haas 74 65 73 73, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 69 70 76

287 Brent Geiberger 72 69 75 71, Alex Aragon 71 69 73 74

288 John Engler Jr 74 67 72 75, Ian Leggatt (Can) 69 72 71 76, John Riegger 69 72 72 75

289 Bubba Dickerson 71 70 79 69