His advantage never slipped below those two shots and he eventually coasted to a five-stroke victory with a round of 70 at St Andrews.

Woods, who led from day one, carded just two bogeys – the 10th where he drove into a bunker and had to play out sideways and the 17th after coming up short of the green and three-putting.

Montgomerie finished nine under after a level-par round of 72, which was good enough for second place outright.

Olazabal, with a 74, was joint third with Fred Couples, who shot a four-under 68 to lift him to eight under.

World number two Vijay Singh, US Open champion Michael Campbell, Sergio Garcia, world number five Retief Goosen and Geoff Ogilvy finished tied for fifth.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell had the honour of holding the clubhouse lead for a couple of hours during the afternoon and, but for an aberration at the 17th yesterday, felt he could have been in contention.

The Portrush golfer was in the fearsome Road Bunker from where he thinned his recovery across the green and into the wall over the road and ended up taking a quadruple-bogey eight.

He recovered sufficiently well today as, after going out in level par after a birdie at the par-five fifth cancelled out a three-putt at the third, he came home in just 31.

That left him five under par for his round of 67, six under for the tournament, and eight shots behind Woods.

“I didn’t even realise how low I’d shot on the back nine until I had got in,” admitted McDowell, he recorded his best finish in a short five-major career – joint 11th.

“It is nice to have a back nine like that and finish as strongly as I did. It is just another day where I’ve played pretty solid. I feel like I have played great all week. I’ve been happy in general with my performance this week.

“If you take out that eight I made on 17 yesterday and I would have been right back in this golf tournament.”

McDowell’s birdie run started at the 12th where he holed from six feet and at the next he then dropped one from 40 feet.

Another six-footer at the par-five 14th took him to four under before a rolling 20-foot effort at 16 was followed by a two-putt birdie at the last after driving the green.

Darren Clarke had another frustrating day, carding seven straight pars before he dropped a shot at the par-three eighth only to claim it back immediately at the next to get back to six under by the turn.

Four holes in regulation were then followed by a bogey at the 618-yard 14th to drop the Ulsterman back to five under.

He parred his way home, missing a three-foot putt on the last for birdie, for a round of 73 and a tournament score of five under.

Paul McGinley was another Irishman to rue his bad luck at the 17th again as he missed out on even a “consolation prize” in his final round.

The Dubliner was five under for his round through 16 holes when he hit it in the infamous Road Bunker and was left with an impossible lie right up against the face.

He chipped out backwards but had no fourth shot to the pin and finished with a third successive double-bogey six at the hole, having birdied it on Thursday, leaving him five over for the 17th this week.

To compound his misery he then missed a short birdie putt at the last and finished with a 69 and closed one under for the tournament.

“I’ve been damn unlucky. Three times I’ve been unplayable. Who have you seen hit it out backwards this week? And not only backwards – it was a great shot to get it out – I then had no fourth shot because of the angle I had to hit it out,” said the Ryder Cup star.

“A consolation prize was all I was looking for today, getting as high up as I could and except for the last two holes I would have.”