AKRON, Ohio -- For a while Sunday it looked like no one wanted to win the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational. In the end, though, the identity of the man who finally stepped up to claim the $1.3 million prize came as no surprise.

The indomitable Tiger Woods won his fourth title at Firestone Country Club when he rolled in a 17-foot birdie putt on the 16th hole Sunday that would give him a one-stroke win over Chris DiMarco.

The victory was Woods’ fifth of the season and the 45th of his burgeoning career. Coupled with three titles at the Memorial Tournament, the game’s No. 1 player has now won seven times in 16 starts in the state of Ohio.

“We don’t have enough tournaments here,” grinned Woods, no doubt secure in the knowledge that the NEC Invitational will now be played at Firestone through 2010 thanks to its new sponsorship by Bridgestone.

Woods’ well-documented experience on the South Course came in handy Sunday as he contemplated what turned out to be the winning putt. He’d had the putt, which was just above the hole, many times before and never played quite enough break.

“I made sure I threw the ball out there a little bit more, and I said ‘now you overdid it, you hit it high,’” Woods recalled,. “It started breaking, and I thought it had a chance, and it just snapped at the end.

“I thought it was going to lip out, which was how my whole day was going, but it lipped in, which was sweet.”

Sunday was, as Paul McGinley, who tied for third, would later say, a “day for battling” at Firestone. While Kenny Perry, McGinley and DiMarco all challenged, though, it was Woods who once again won the war.

His 1-over 71 in the final round was nothing if not gritty and that well-holed birdie provided the winning margin over DiMarco, who played four groups ahead and shot 68 to finish at 5-under 274. McGinley, Ryan Palmer and Vijay Singh were another stroke behind in third.

“I hit the ball beautifully all day and just could not make a putt,” Woods said. “Either I hit good putts that didn’t go in or hit just atrocious putts that weren’t even close.

“It was frustrating especially with Chris playing just a beautiful round of golf ahead of us. K.P. got off to a solid start but he struggled coming in. So it was just basically if I could somehow get to 6 and see what could happen.

“After Chris posted 5, I was just trying to make some birdies somewhere, and luckily I made that putt on 16, which was nice.”

Only two players in the final five groups -- DiMarco and Palmer -- managed to break par in the final round. Sunday’s scoring average was 71.214 and the South Course averaged 71.365 for the week.