Tiger Woods surged past Vijay Singh to seize his fifth straight PGA title in superb style at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

World No. 1 Woods erased a three-shot deficit in three holes, took sole possession of the lead after five and rolled to his fifth win in as many starts with an eight-under-par 63 for 16-under 268.

He extended a winning streak that included the British Open and PGA Championship - titles that brought his total of majors to 12 - and took his tally of victories in 2006 to seven.

Singh, who had opened the tournament with rounds of 70-71, had gone into the third round five shots off the pace but fired a course-record 61 that gave him a three-stroke lead heading into the final round.

Singh carded a creditable 68 on Monday, but by the time he nabbed a birdie at the seventh hole he was playing catch-up.

"I didn't play the front nine as good as I wanted to and Tiger played unbelievable," Singh said. "I hung in there and thought I had a shot on the back nine."

A front nine of six-under-par 30 included two eagles and put Woods on top by three shots.

Singh was even through nine, and even as Woods went through a stretch of seven straight pars, Singh couldn't mount a charge.

Woods picked up two more shots at 15 and 17 as he claimed his 53rd career PGA Tour victory, placing him fifth on the all-time list.

Singh started with six pars before a birdie at the seventh. A bogey at nine dropped him back to 11-under.

Three birdies coming in, on 12, 15 and 18, got Singh to 14-under 270.

When he won here in 2003, Singh temporarily ended Woods' reign as the No. 1 player in the world and got the best of him in a final-group showdown.

Woods appeared bent on revenge from the start as he eagled both the par-fives on the front nine.

Woods added birdies at three and five to get to 14-under at the turn.

The tournament turned into a duel between Woods and Singh, with only 26 players finishing under-par and no other player reaching double-digits under-par.

Brian Bateman closed with a 66 to finish third at eight-under 276.

Australian Robert Allenby (68) and England's Justin Rose (72) tied for fourth at seven-under.

(AFP September 5, 2006)