Sep 5, 2006 2 min read

NORTON, Mass. (AP) – What began as a rally quickly turned into a rout for Tiger Woods, who matched the lowest final round of his career Monday in the Deutsche Bank Championship to win for the fifth straight time on the PGA Tour. With a splendid array of shots and key putts, Woods crushed Vijay Singh’s spirit on his way to an 8-under 63, turning a three-shot deficit into a two-shot victory for his longest winning streak in a season.

The streak began in July with a victory in the British Open, his first since his father died in May. It continued on a sunny afternoon outside Boston with some of his best golf of the year and allowed him to avenge a loss to Singh at this tournament two years ago.

Woods needed only three holes to erase the deficit, including a 7-iron over a marsh and into 10 feet for eagle at No. 2. He pulled ahead with a 25-foot birdie putt at No. 5, and he seized control with a 3-wood from 266 yards, a piercing shot into a gentle breeze that banged into the slope fronting the green and stopped 10 feet away for another eagle.

He played his first seven holes in 6 under par, and Singh never got closer than two shots the rest of the way.

Singh beat him two years ago to end Woods’ five-year reign atop the world ranking. The 43-year-old Fijian closed with a 68, not his best golf but ordinarily enough to win with a three-shot lead in swirling breezes.

But not against Woods, and certainly not when the world’s No. 1 player is on this kind of a roll.

“Tiger played unbelievable,” Singh said. “He made two eagles and just took it away.”

Byron Nelson won 11 straight tournaments in 1945, a streak regarded as one of the most untouchable in sports. Woods won six straight at the end of 1999 and the start of 2000, and Ben Hogan won six in a row in 1948.

Woods now takes a week off before heading to England for the HSBC World Match Play Championship, followed by the Ryder Cup. His next PGA Tour start will be the American Express Championship outside London at the end of September.