In the global sense, he is indisputably the king. Unlike the conquerors of old, who colonised foreign lands by foul and unfair means, Tiger Woods does so in the fairest way possible.

He does it with a majestic golf swing that ensures he gets the ball into the hole in fewer attempts than anyone else and, in the American Express World Championship at Mount Juliet yesterday, the world number one showed that the hunger for victory remains as strong as ever.

It needed to be.

Having assumed the lead in the first round on Thursday when sinking a downhill 25 footer for birdie on the 18th green, Woods returned there for a final time last evening - surrounded by his disciples in the packed grandstands and others standing on aching toes to catch a glimpse and join in the adulation - and suffered his only bogey in 72 holes of golf.

The drop shot hurt, and wounded his pride; but the glitch wasn't sufficient to halt his victory march.

He signed for a final round 66 for 25-under-par 263, which gave him a one-shot winning margin over fast-finishing Retief Goosen.

On another pet day for golf, the course yielded birdies and eagles in abundance. So much so, in fact, that Woods, who had started the final round five shots clear of six players, needed to get in on the act too if that cushion wasn't to deflate to such an extent that he would find himself between a rock and a hard place.

For much of the round, Woods was on cruise control. Earlier, Sergio Garcia had shot a course record 62 - later equalled by Goosen - and the benign conditions, generous fairways and flawless greens left the way clear for a charge on Woods.

Each time a question was asked, however, Woods answered it. His ability to react was exemplified by his play of the 10th, a reachable par five of 562 yards.

Woods is not one of those players who avert their gaze from scoreboards. He likes to know what is going on, and when Vijay Singh eagled and Goosen birdied the hole to move to 19-under-par - and within three shots of Woods - the world's best player's response was to fire in a three-iron to 12 feet and to hole the eagle putt.

The homeward journey was not to prove as fruitful to Woods, however, as it was to Goosen. Bit by bit, the margin was reduced as Goosen overcame a bogey on the 11th to roll in birdies on the 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th greens.

"Everybody was shooting the lights out, and I just kept doing it to," said Goosen. "I knew I had to shoot something low to have any chance."

Standing on the 16th green, Woods, who knew that his lead was eroding, was made further aware of the move being made by Goosen up ahead.

The South African had just played a wonderful approach shot to eight feet on the 17th green - he was to hole the eagle putt - and the roar that worked its way back down the length of the par five alerted Woods to the threat.

His lead had been reduced to one stroke, and the walk in the park had developed into a more arduous work-out.

Woods's play of the 17th, a reachable par five, didn't quite match the fluid and error-free golf he had played for almost four full rounds. His three-wood off the tee finished behind a tree, and he cut a four-iron recovery that finished in the right rough. When he got to his ball, it was buried in horrid, thick rough.

"That lie was pretty gnarly," said Woods. "It was into the grain and sitting down and, to make matters worse, it was hard underneath the ball.

"I knew that was probably going to be the shot of the tournament. If I'm aggressive on the shot and I hit it too far behind it and blade it, I'll probably lose the tournament.

"So, I said, 'just suck it up there and put it on the green like you know you can'."

He was as good as his word. The wedge dug into the rough and the ball finished 12 feet from the hole.

There are those who firmly believe that Woods has the mental capacity to stir a ball into the hole when the need is greatest and, on this occasion, the putt was sure and true. It gave him a two-shot cushion walking to the 18th tee and, given that he hadn't suffered a bogey in 71 holes, it put destiny into his own hands.

However, an incident with a "trigger happy" photographer on the 18th fairway left Woods somewhat hot under the collar.

As he contemplated an approach to the green - with rough to the right and water on the left - Woods's routine was upset when a photographer took a picture of him as he stood over the ball.

"It just threw my focus off," said Woods. "I was so hot, because of all the times to take a photo. . . I'm 236 yards out, trying to hit a four-iron in there, and it's not exactly an easy shot."

When he did eventually hit his shot, Woods pushed it right into the rough, pitched out to three feet and missed the putt.

The dropped shot ended his streak of 81 holes without a bogey stretching back to the NEC Invitational. If he'd made the putt, he would have become the first player since Lee Trevino in the 1974 Greater Greensboro Open to play 72 holes without a bogey and win.

Woods's win, though, enabled him to move over the $6 million mark in season's winnings and keep his number one position on the US moneylist. It also brought his career earnings in the world golf championship events to $6,708,333 and gave him his sixth win in 12 WGC events played and his 11th top-10 finish.

Goosen's late charge may have come just too late, but he at least had the satisfaction of leap-frogging Ernie Els to go top of the European Tour moneylist.