Sunday's rain forced Tiger Woods to wait an extra day but the world's top-ranked golfer cruised to his fourth win of the season yesterday by completing a five-stroke victory at the rain-delayed Memorial tournament.

Woods, who began the final round with a six-stroke lead, shot a two-under-par 70 on the saturated Muirfield Village course to secure a five-shot triumph over South African Ernie Els and Justin Leonard.

A bogey at the final hole deprived the 24-year-old Woods of a share of the tournament record score set by Tom Lehman in 1994, as he posted a 19-underpar 269 total.

Woods gave the field no chance yesterday claiming his 19th US PGA title and going over the $15 million mark in career earnings in less than five years on the tour.

The $558,000 first prize pushed Woods over $4 million in just 10 events this year. He won the first two tournaments he entered - the Mercedes Championship and Pebble Beach National Pro-Am - before capturing the Bay Hill Invitational in March.

Els shot a seven-under 65, but could not put a dent in Woods's advantage, starting the day 10 shots off the pace. Leonard carded a four-under 68 for a share of second place. Mike Weir shot a three-under 69 to finish fourth at 12 under par.

Rain washed out most of Sunday's scheduled final round, pushing it back to yesterday. It was the third time this year a US Tour event was pushed to Monday and also the third time the Memorial has been completed a day late.

The suspension marked the 23rd time in the Memorial Tournament's 25 years that a round has been delayed, interrupted or cancelled because of rain or lightning. Before yesterday's round, Woods had correctly predicted he would be the chief beneficiary of the wet fairways and greens because of his length off the tee. He didn't anticipate any problems finishing, as he had last week when he lost a two-shot lead and finished third in Germany.

"You're not going to lose your entire game in one day if you're playing well," he said. "You're not going to struggle to break 90."