Woods shakes off Austin, Els to claim 13th major

Els continued to gamble, waiting for the 10th green to clear and belting driver on the 366-yard dogleg to just left of the green, leaving him a simple up-and-down for birdie. Austin also began his big run, and when Woods three-putted the 14th, the lead was down to one.

"I felt like, you know, I got myself into this mess, now I've got to go earn my way out of it," Woods said. "I did some serious yelling at myself going to the 15th tee."

The cheers died in the final hour and the outcome was inevitable.

Until proven otherwise, Woods simply doesn't lose when he has the lead going into the final round. He took control of this tournament with his record-tying 63 in the second round, and became the fifth player to shoot 63 in a major and go on to win.

Woods went one stretch winning 7-of-11 majors. He now is on a 5-of-12 run, and getting closer to Nicklaus.

"Even though I'm at 13, it's still a long way away," he said. "You can't get it done in one year. It's going to take time. It took Jack 20 years to get it done, 20-plus years. Hopefully, health permitting and everything goes right and I keep improving, I'll one day surpass that."