Woods keeps streak alive

NORTON, Mass. (AP) -- He knows how many majors Jack Nicklaus won, Sam Snead's record for total victories and, yes, Tiger Woods knows all about Byron Nelson's 11-tournament winning streak, too.
"It wasn't just 11. It was 11 in a row, 12 out of 13, 18 for the year," Woods said, rattling off the details in rapid fire. "That will work."
Woods won his fifth consecutive tournament on Monday, shooting an 8-under 63 in the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship to beat Vijay Singh by two strokes. With his 53rd career victory, Woods moved past Nelson into fifth on the all-time list.
But he still has some work to do to top Nelson's record-setting streak from 1945.
"In this day and age, with this competition, to win 11 in a row would be almost unheard of," Woods said when asked how Nelson's accomplishment compared with others, like Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. "What Byron accomplished, that goes down as one of the great years in the history of our sport. ... DiMaggio's record, I see that being broken more than winning 11 in a row."
Woods' streak began with the British Open -- his first victory after his father died. Now, he's almost halfway to Lord Byron's mark, matching the best final round of his career to finish at 16-under 268 and win for the seventh time this year.
No other player has won more than twice.
Woods won six straight at the end of 1999 and the start of 2000, and Ben Hogan won six in a row in 1948. Woods plans a week off before heading to England for the HSBC World Match Play Championship, followed by the Ryder Cup.
His next PGA Tour start will be the American Express Championship outside London at the end of September.
Is 11 within reach?
"If a lot of guys pull out," Woods said with a laugh.
Singh shot a course-record 61 on Sunday to take a three-stroke lead into the final day. But he followed that up with a 68, shooting even par on the front nine while Woods went 6 under -- with two eagles -- on the first seven holes.
"Normally it's good enough. Today it wasn't," Singh said. "Tiger played incredible on the front nine. I hung in there but I made too many mistakes."
Brian Bateman shot 66 to finish third at 8-under 276. Justin Rose, who entered the day tied with Woods in second, closed with a 72 to finish in a tie for fourth at 7 under with Robert Allenby (68).
"I was 4 over through five holes; he was 4 under through five," Rose said. "Obviously, it was 'Game Over' for me."
Woods twice shot 63 in the final round at the Byron Nelson Championship and once at Disney, but this was his lowest final round in a tournament that he won. It also was his largest comeback in the final round since he overcame a five-shot deficit at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am in 2000, which he won for his sixth straight victory.
In the process, he crossed out something else on his ever diminishing "to-do" list: He had never won the Deutsche Bank Championship, a tournament that lists his foundation as one of its charitable beneficiaries. The closest he came in three previous tries was 2004, when Singh won a head-to-head matchup on the final day to knock Woods from atop the world rankings after 264 weeks at No. 1.
There are only five events left on the PGA Tour that Woods has played in more than once without winning.
Woods, who did not make bogey in his last 47 holes, missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the first hole but made an eagle on the par-5 second. He tied Singh on the third with a 15-foot birdie putt and moved into first with a 25-footer on the fifth.
"I just had to run him down as fast as possible, try to at least get him by the front nine was over. But I was able to do it within three holes," Woods said.
"One of the hardest things to do in our sport is follow up a great round with another great round. So I just kept thinking that if Vijay shot something in the high 60s, I figured mid-60s would either get me in a playoff or win it. And that was what I had in mind today, and I was able to actually go a little bit lower than that."
Singh landed the green from a bunker 87 yards out on the seventh hole, spinning his ball to within 2 feet of the pin for a tap-in birdie. But Woods curled in from 10 feet for his second eagle of the day and a two-stroke lead.
"He hits a great shot," Woods said. "So if I make my putt, I take all his momentum away from him. And I knocked it right in there."