World number one Tiger Woods held off David Toms to win the World Matchplay Championship two-and-one on Sunday.

Woods, the number one seed, opened an early lead on Toms in the morning 18-hole session, winning the first hole and opening a four-up lead heading into the afternoon session.

"If I would have made a couple more putts I could have blown it wide open," Woods said of making two birdies and one bogey in the first 18 holes.

However, throughout the day Woods struggled with his putting, which was particularly evident on the 20th hole.

Having made a birdie on the opening hole of the afternoon session to go five up, Woods hit his tee shot to six feet.

Toms, meanwhile, was looking at a long putt and the prospect of going six down with 16 holes remaining but he made the putt from 29-feet while Woods missed.

"To make the putt and him miss his, I think that was a point in the match where it was getting out of hand," Toms said. "But I was able to come back."

Toms followed with a second straight birdie to trail three down, though Woods temporarily stemmed the tide with a birdie on the 24th hole.

He then made back-to-back bogeys on the 26th and 27th holes that left Toms two down for the first time since the ninth hole in the morning. Toms then pulled within one of Woods when he birdied the 29th.

But Woods then kicked into gear after that, telling himself to make just one putt to clinch the two hole lead again.

"I made one putt on the back nine, but it was a timely putt," Woods said of his 13-foot birdie on the 31st.

"I thought that was big really big."

Toms made another birdie on the 33rd hole to claw back again within one with three to play but after halving the 34th hole, he sent his drive right on the 35th hole and could not recover, shooting a bogey to lose the match.

In a battle of Australians in the 18-hole playoff for third and fourth, Adam Scott saw a six-up lead through eight holes all but evaporate before he defeated Peter Lonard one-up.

"I thought it was an interesting day because I was cruising and then couldn't do a thing right," Scott said of his rollercoaster round.

"I honestly thought I could just run him out of holes, but I wasn't hitting my shots."

The win was Woods' first in the event, in his fourth appearance. He lost in the final to Britain's Darren Clarke in 2000.