After both players finished on 20-under-par 268, Woods won at the third extra hole with a par when Montgomerie hit his second shot out of the bunker into a lake.
It was a disappointing finale for Montgomerie, who having started the day a stroke in front of the 26-year-old Masters champion, carded a closing three-under-par 69 to Woods’s 68.
The 38-year-old Scot surged three shots ahead by the second but was pegged back to just a stroke again by Woods’s eagle on the third.
Woods, winner of seven majors, was relentless as he took over the lead for the first time in the tournament at the 67th hole, when Montgomerie ran up an untimely bogey.
Within two holes, though, Montgomerie was back level by sinking a brave 12-footer and the event went into a playoff.
There was little to separate the two in the first two playoff holes, although Woods’s effort from 15ft at the second of sudden-death provided yet another lip-out.
But Montgomerie then cracked as he hit a drive into a fairway bunker edge.
He tried to take on the tough shot but came up short in the pond and a chip from Woods to two feet earned him the 423,000 dollars first prize to go with an appearance fee of two million dollars.
It gave Woods his 16th win in 34 European Tour-counting events.
Justin Rose came back from a poor start to card a 67 and finish only one stroke away from the playoff on 269, two strokes ahead of playing-partner and fellow-Briton Greg Owen.
Leading final round scores (British unless stated).
268 — Colin Montgomerie 66, 68, 65, 69; Tiger Woods (US) 69, 67, 64, 68 (Woods wins on third playoff).
269 — Justin Rose 71, 65, 66, 67.
271 — Greg Owen 68, 68, 68, 67.
273 — Ricardo Gonzalez (Argentina) 71, 67, 67, 68.
275 — Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 73, 65, 71, 66; Ian Woosnam 68, 67, 73, 67; Marten Olander (Sweden) 69, 69, 69, 68.
276 — Anders Hansen (Denmark) 72, 68, 71, 65; Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 69, 69, 70, 68; Richard Green (Australia) 68, 67, 70, 71.
277 — Bradley Dredge 70, 69, 70, 68; Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 71, 70, 66, 70; Santiago Luna (Spain) 72, 70, 65, 70; Pierre Fulke (Sweden) 69, 70, 66, 72.
278 — Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 71, 72, 69, 66; Darren Clarke 67, 68, 73, 70; Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 71, 69, 68, 71; Alex Cejka 64, 70, 71, 73.
279 — Rolf Muntz (Netherlands) 70, 73, 71, 65; Adam Scott (Australia) 70, 73, 68, 68; Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 72, 68, 70, 69; Carlos Rodiles (Spain) 71, 69, 68, 71.
FORT WORTH (Texas): Zimbabwe’s Nick Price grabbed his first PGA Tour title since 1998 with a five-shot victory in the MasterCard Colonial Sunday.
Price shot a three-under-par 67 in the final round for a 13-under total to hold off Kenny Perry and David Toms, who finished in a tie for second place at eight-under.
Dudley Hart was fourth, another stroke back after a five-under 65. The victory was the first for Price since the 1998 FedEx St. Jude Classic.
Price began the fourth round with a five-shot lead, which grew to six early on the front nine before the three-time major champion slipped with bogeys on the fifth and sixth hole
After a Perry birdie on six, the lead was suddenly only two shots. But the Zimbabwean followed with four straight pars, before he birdied the par-five 11th, par-four 12th and par-four 14th to consolidate his lead.
The challenge then fell away as Perry dropped a shot on the 14th with a bogey, while Toms, the defending PGA champion, came to grief on the 15th, making a double bogey from a plugged lie in a bunker.
Toms, who now has six top-10s in 14 tournaments this season but has yet to win, was at five-under on his round when he played the 430-yard 15th.
With the win, Price becomes the 10th international player to win in 21 PGA Tour events this season.
Leading final round scores (US unless stated):
267 — Nick Price (Zimbabwe) 69, 65, 66, 67.
272 — David Toms 71, 71, 64, 66; Kenny Perry 70, 66, 69, 67.
273 — Dudley Hart 73, 65, 70, 65.
274 — Davis Love III 70, 70, 67, 67; Phil Tataurangi (New Zealand) 70, 69, 66, 69.
275 — Tom Watson 68, 72, 66, 69.
276 — Stuart Appleby (Australia) 70, 71, 71, 64; Jonathan Byrd 73, 67, 68, 68; Esteban Toledo (Mexico) 67, 67, 72, 70; Steve Flesch 68, 67, 70, 71.
277 — Olin Browne 69, 72, 69, 67; Frank Lickliter II 67, 72, 70, 68; Hal Sutton 69, 68, 71, 69; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 68, 70, 70, 69; Billy Andrade 68, 70, 70, 69; Joel Edwards 67, 71, 69, 70; Bob Tway 67, 68, 71, 71.
278 — Cameron Beckman 71, 69, 70, 68; Scott Verplank 67, 70, 72, 69; Shigeki Maruyama (Japan) 72, 67, 69, 70; Justin Leonard 70, 68, 69, 71.
Other international players:
280 — Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 69, 72, 70, 69.
282 — Mike Weir (Canada) 71, 68, 73, 70; Peter Lonard (Australia) 68, 70, 69, 75.
283 — Steve Elkington (Australia) 74, 68, 72, 69.—Reuters