Woods, who had a share of the lead with Sergio Garcia and David Lingmerth after completing the weather-disrupted third round on Sunday morning, carded a final-round 70 for a 13-under par total of 275.
That put him two strokes in front of Swedish PGA Tour rookie Lingmerth, Jeff Maggert and Kevin Streelman.
Garcia, tied for the lead at the 17th, finished with a quadruple bogey and a double bogey, giving Woods the last laugh after a couple of days of verbal sparring between the two.
Since then he had posted only one top-10 finish at TPC Sawgrass until Sunday.
Woods notched his fourth PGA Tour title of the year, and it's the earliest in a single season he has ever won a fourth title.
"Each year I'm tying to get better," Woods said. "So far this year, I'm off to a pretty good start."
His 78th tour win came in his 300th start -- he also won in his 100th and 200th starts.
Garcia and Lingmerth, playing in the final group right behind Woods, had both just birdied 13.
"Just hit absolutely the worst shot I could possibly hit," Woods said of his tee shot at 14. "But it was the only bad swing I made all day. I told myself I could still win the tournament.
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