Tiger Woods emerged the last man standing to win the US dollars 6.4million (£3.21million) Wachovia Championship by two strokes.

Woods had his problems over the difficult closing stretch, but a three-under-par 69 was easily good enough to fend off his rivals in tough, windy conditions at Quail Hollow.

He finished at 13-under 275 for his 57th career victory on the PGA Tour, and his third victory in six starts this year.

Steve Stricker (69) pulled his second shot into the creek at the brutal par-four 18th, but salvaged a bogey to finish second on 11-under.

And Phil Mickelson (70) sneaked into a tie for third place with Rory Sabbatini (74) at nine-under when several other contenders made a mess of the last.

Woods started the day a stroke behind overnight leader Sabbatini, but took command by picking up four shots in a brilliant three-hole stretch from the par-five seventh.

That gave him the cushion to withstand a double bogey at the par-three 13th.

Collated final round scores & totals,

(USA unless stated, par 72):

275 Tiger Woods 70 68 68 69

277 Steve Stricker 72 70 66 69

279 Phil Mickelson 70 71 68 70, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 71 64 74

280 Anthony Kim 72 69 69 70, Stewart Cink 70 71 69 70

281 Vijay Singh (Fij) 67 71 69 74, Arron Oberholser 69 69 69 74, Ken Duke 70 70 68 73

283 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 70 73 71 69, Brett Quigley 70 74 69 70, John Senden (Aus) 72 70 69 72, Billy Mayfair 73 71 67 72

284 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 68 74 68 74, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 71 70 72

285 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 72 71 72, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 71 70 71 73, J J Henry 72 73 69 71, Robert Garrigus 72 73 67 73, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 70 73 71 71, Briny Baird 72 73 70 70

286 Joey Sindelar 69 72 70 75, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 73 71 74

287 Nick Watney 72 71 74 70, Adam Scott (Aus) 73 69 73 72, Ted Purdy 70 69 74 74, J.P. Hayes 75 72 69 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 73 69 73, Kevin Sutherland 75 69 71 72, Heath Slocum 68 77 71 71, Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 72 72 72, KJ Choi (Kor) 70 74 69 74, Mike Weir (Can) 73 71 70 73

288 Lucas Glover 75 72 68 73, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 75 69 69 75, Parker McLachlin 71 75 69 73, Nathan Green (Aus) 70 76 71 71, Stephen Marino 74 71 70 73, J.B. Holmes 69 74 71 74, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 70 73 72 73, Robert Allenby (Aus) 70 76 69 73, Ernie Els (Rsa) 71 74 73 70

289 Jerry Kelly 69 73 70 77, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 74 72 71, Davis Love III 74 72 67 76, Woody Austin 71 74 72 72, Ben Curtis 70 75 74 70, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 75 71 72, Boo Weekley 72 75 69 73, Camilo Villegas (Col) 69 76 72 72, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 66 75 79 69

290 Jeff Maggert 68 74 77 71, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 73 75 72, Jason Bohn 67 72 73 78, Charles Howell III 78 69 74 69

291 Charlie Wi (Kor) 74 68 75 74, Dean Wilson 72 75 72 72, John Rollins 70 76 73 72, Cameron Beckman 75 72 72 72, Michael Putnam 72 70 76 73

292 Charles Warren 70 73 76 73, Jeff Gove 74 69 72 77, Bo Van Pelt 77 70 75 70, Lee Westwood (Eng) 72 74 74 72, Stephen Ames (Can) 69 73 74 76, Mark Wilson 76 70 71 75

293 Steve Flesch 70 74 71 78, Jeff Sluman 71 76 73 73

294 Billy Andrade 73 74 72 75, Brian Davis (Eng) 72 75 72 75, Robert Gamez 75 71 73 75, Chris DiMarco 74 71 73 76, Todd Demsey 72 75 72 75, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 72 74 72 76

295 Bob Tway 72 75 71 77, Ryan Moore 74 72 74 75

296 Gavin Coles (Aus) 76 71 72 77, Cliff Kresge 75 72 77 72

297 Stephen Leaney (Aus) 75 70 75 77, Craig Kanada 73 73 77 74, Tripp Isenhour 75 72 77 73

299 David Berganio Jnr. 69 76 71 83, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 73 74 78 74

301 Zach Johnson 71 75 75 80