WATFORD (England), Oct 2: Tiger Woods won the WGC American Express Championship for the fifth time in seven attempts on Sunday, romping to victory by eight strokes at a stormy Grove course.

A closing four-under-par 67 on a day interrupted twice by lightning took Woods to 23-under-par 261, eight shots ahead of Australian Adam Scott (69) and Britain's Ian Poulter (66).

It was Woods' 12th WGC title and his sixth successive victory in strokeplay events.

This will rate among his easiest as he led from start to finish to collect the $1.3 million first prize and extend his lead on the world rankings even further.

Going into the final round six strokes ahead of Scott, the nearest his opponents got to him was five strokes and Woods led by seven at the turn.

Even his third bogey of the tournament, when he missed a five-footer to save par, after being bunkered before a second suspension for lightning, failed to stop his saunter to victory.

While 'only' a birdie on the 18th spoiled his run, after making eagles there for three successive rounds, Woods never had any serious challenger at the first WGC to be held in Britain.

He is now 109-under-par for his six successive strokeplay wins, which include victories in the British Open and US PGA Championship and two WGCs.

Leading final round scores:

261 – Tiger Woods (US) 63, 64, 67, 67.

269 – Ian Poulter (Britain) 64, 71, 68, 66; Adam Scott (Australia) 67, 68, 65, 69.

270 – Jim Furyk (US) 67, 65, 69, 69.

271 – Ernie Els (South Africa) 65, 70, 69, 67.

273 – Stuart Appleby (Australia) 71, 66, 70, 66; Brett Wetterich (US) 70, 66, 69, 68; Luke Donald (Britain) 68, 70, 67, 68.

274 – Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 71, 67, 71, 65; Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 68, 68, 68, 70; Brett Quigley (US) 70, 64, 67, 73.

275 – Arron Oberholser (US) 69, 72, 66, 68.

276 – Lucas Glover (US) 69, 68, 68, 71; David Howell (Britain) 66, 66, 71, 73; Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 68, 67, 68, 73; Stewart Cink (US) 65, 67, 70, 74.

277 – Jyoti Randhawa (India) 66, 71, 71, 69; Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 70, 67, 71, 69; Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 69, 70, 67, 71; Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 64, 69, 71, 73.

279 – Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 67, 76, 72, 64.

280 – ohan Edfors (Sweden) 70, 68, 71, 71; Chris DiMarco (US) 69, 70, 70, 71; Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 69, 71, 69, 71; Dean Wilson (US) 71, 70, 70, 69.—Reuters