Tiger Woods admitted it felt "pretty special" to seal his seventh consecutive US Tour title but insisted he does not rank it as his finest achievement.

The world number one made a phenomenal last-day surge for top spot, carding a six-under-par 66 to snatch victory from the likes of Charles Howell and pace-setter Brandt Snedeker.

Woods finished on 15 under for the tournament, while Howell's 68 saw him into second place on 13 under.

It was the 55th career victory for Woods, who is now alone in second place in terms of most consecutive tour victories, breaking the streak he had at six in the 1999/2000 season. Ben Hogan also had six in 1948 but the record is held by Byron Nelson with 11 in 1945.

And despite being glad to be in such illustrious company, Woods confessed that his four consecutive major wins, completed with victory at the Masters in 2001, still stood out as his career high.

"As far as how special seven is, you're in elite company," Woods said. "There's only one person that's ahead of you. You know, he's one of the game's greatest legends in the history of the game.

"To be in company like that with Mr. Nelson and Mr. Hogan up there as well, it's pretty special to be in that kind of company.

"[But] if you want to rate it, I think you can't compare four in a row in majors," Woods said. "There's no comparison in that. That's what we play for."

Nevertheless, Woods relished his latest win.

"It's just fun, fun to be there," Woods said. "That's why you bust your butt as hard as you do in practice sessions to get yourself in that position.

"It's like what Jack (Nicklaus) had always said, 'Winning breeds winning,' and the more you win, the more you understand how to do it," Woods said. "And you do it in different ways.

"I played pretty aggressive on that back nine," Woods said. "I just happened to come out on top."

Howell, meanwhile, admitted that beating a fired-up Woods was an enormous task.

"Well it ain't easy beating that guy," said Howell, who played with him for the first time in a final round.

"He just doesn't make mistakes. He just doesn't change. You know, you may see the club slam or you may see whatever, but his overall demeanour doesn't change. He never let's one bad shot affect the next one."

All the final round scores from the US PGA Tour's Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines GC in San Diego, California (USA unless stated, par 72):

273 Tiger Woods 66 72 69 66

275 Charles Howell III 70 64 73 68

276 Brandt Snedeker 61 70 74 71

277 Andrew Buckle (Aus) 66 71 68 72, Mark Calcavecchia 66 74 68 69, Bubba Watson 67 74 69 67

278 Bart Bryant 66 73 70 69, Jeff Quinney 64 74 70 70

279 Nick Watney 69 69 70 71, Charlie Wi (Kor) 63 72 73 71, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 70 71 68, Rich Beem 67 68 73 71, Ian Poulter (Eng) 72 68 71 68

280 Kevin Sutherland 65 71 70 74, Stewart Cink 68 71 71 70

281 Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 68 71 69 73, Michael Putnam 71 66 74 70, Lee Janzen 72 66 74 69, Ryan Moore 70 69 73 69

282 Steven Marino 65 74 71 72, Bill Haas 69 66 72 75, Craig Kanada 66 75 72 69

283 Dudley Hart 71 68 72 72, Robert Garrigus 65 73 72 73, Gavin Coles (Aus) 65 75 71 72, Parker McLachlin 70 67 76 70, Bob Estes 70 71 71 71, Kevin Stadler 68 72 69 74, Brett Wetterich 70 71 70 72, Troy Matteson 71 67 69 76

284 Charley Hoffman 72 67 73 72, John Senden (Aus) 64 75 75 70, Cameron Beckman 70 68 72 74, Tripp Isenhour 71 70 73 70, Cliff Kresge 65 72 71 76, Johnson Wagner 65 74 70 75, Steve Allan (Aus) 67 73 71 73, Mark Wilson 73 68 71 72

285 Vijay Singh (Fij) 75 66 74 70, Tom Johnson 74 67 69 75, Mark O'Meara 70 69 74 72, DJ Brigman 66 70 77 72, Jamie Lovemark 66 74 73 72, Rich Barcelo 70 68 71 76

286 Chris Riley 70 71 74 71, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 70 68 73 75, Zach Johnson 72 69 73 72, Ted Purdy 74 67 73 72, Darron Stiles 65 73 71 77, David Duval 66 75 75 70

287 Phil Mickelson 74 66 73 74, Paul Gow (Aus) 71 70 73 73, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 72 69 70 76, Justin Rose (Eng) 68 73 73 73, Glen Day 73 65 76 73

288 Hunter Mahan 75 65 75 73, Tom Byrum 71 70 72 75, Michael Allen 66 75 72 75, Craig Barlow 75 66 75 72

289 Matt Hendrix 70 70 74 75, John Merrick 72 68 76 73, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 71 70 73 75, Bob Tway 72 66 76 75

290 Harrison Frazar 74 67 74 75, Douglas Labelle 67 74 77 72, Tommy Armour III 68 73 76 73

291 Brett Quigley 67 71 78 75, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 70 70 76 75, John Mallinger 70 70 73 78, Jason Bohn 71 69 77 74

293 Jeff Gove 73 68 75 77

294 Todd Hamilton 71 67 80 76

295 Michael Bradley 72 68 80 75