The Title, the AUSD270,000 first prize and the champion's yellow jacket were all safely secured by the world number one at Melbourne's Kingston Heath on Sunday.

Woods, the joint leader after 54 holes with Australians Greg Chalmers and James Nitties, fired a final round 68 at the historic 6455-metre, par-72 layout in Melbourne's renowned sandbelt to prevail by two shots from Chalmers (70) in outright second.

Francois Delamontagne of France elevated himself from amongst the also-rans with weekend rounds of 68 and 69 for a share of third place on 10-under with Jason Dufner (70) of the USA, while Nitties (73) rounded out the top five at minus-nine.

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Tiger Woods opened with two birdies, saved his round with two pars and wound up with a 4-under 68 on Friday to build a three-shot lead going into the weekend of the JBWere Australian Masters.

Woods was at 10-under 134, three shots clear of an American -- Jason Dufner -- and a pair of Australians in Greg Chalmers and James Nitties, both of whom dropped shots on the 17th hole that cost them a spot in the final group Saturday with Woods.

MELBOURNE, Australia — Tiger Woods putted for birdie on every hole but the last one. He birdied all the par 5s. And the one time he took on one of the short par 4s at Kingston Heath, he came within inches of reaching the green.

It was just the kind of performance a massive crowd at the Australian Masters expected to see.

Despite a bogey on his final hole when he drove into a tea tree, Woods put together a stress-free round of 6-under 66 on Thursday to share the lead after one round with James Nitties and Branden Grace.

"I bogeyed the last hole and missed two short putts for birdie," Woods said. "Other than that, it was a pretty good day."

Faldo receives knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II

WINDSOR, England (AP) — Nick Faldo has been knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for a career in which he won six majors and captained Europe's Ryder Cup team.

Faldo can call himself "Sir Nick Faldo" following the ceremony at Windsor Castle. He was awarded the honor for his services to the sport.

Faldo says he "had dreams as a young boy of being a golfer and winning tournaments, but you don't dream of this."

The two-time European Order of Merit winner won three Masters and three British Open titles. He is just the second professional golfer to be knighted after Henry Cotton in 1988.

Thousands turn out for Tiger's practice round

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — The size of the gallery Tuesday at Kingston Heath was nothing new for Tiger Woods, who also played before some 7,000 people two days ago in China.

That was the final round of a World Golf Championship.

This was merely a practice round for the Australia Masters, and it showed just what kind of buzz Woods has generated in his return to Australia for the first time in 11 years.

Perhaps even more peculiar than TV network helicopters circling overhead as Woods played nine holes with Craig Parry was the sign posted at the ticket office: "Sold Out." Australia sporting events, particularly golf, thrive on walk-up sales, and no one could remember the last time a tournament had no tickets available.

Just another day in the life of the world's No. 1 player? Not quite.