LEMONT, Ill. -- No way Jim Furyk was letting go of this victory. Not this time. Not even to Tiger Woods.

After finishing second three times this year, including a devastating loss last weekend, Furyk answered Woods' charge with three straight birdies and hung on to win the Cialis Western Open on Sunday. It was his 10th PGA TOUR victory and the first since the 2003 Buick Open.

After tapping in for a birdie, Furyk took off his cap and shook hands with third round co-leader Ben Curtis. Furyk then turned and pumped his fists to the cheering crowd before sharing a long hug with caddie Fluff Cowan.

"You take the combination of last week, surgery and not winning since surgery, you put all that together and it was an emotional win," said Furyk, who missed half of last year after having wrist surgery.

"It was a lot of fun."

Furyk shot a 2-under 69, finishing the tournament at 14-under 270. Woods (66) was two strokes back at 272, though he did go over the $50 million mark for career earnings.

Curtis faltered in his attempt to win for the first time since the 2003 British Open, shooting a 3-over 74. But he did end up in third for just his second top-10 finish since Royal St. George's.

It was an unusually long time between victories for Furyk. He'd won at least one tournament a year from 1997 to 2003, and won his first major championship at the 2003 U.S. Open at nearby Olympia Fields.

"Jimmy's one of the toughest guys out there," Woods said. "Last week was an aberration."

And Furyk wasn't about to be in that position again this weekend.

"It's nice to come in, after last week, especially with the disappointing second, to hang in there this week and play as well as I did," he said.

He got off to a rough start with bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3, and quickly found himself four strokes behind Curtis. But Furyk got himself going with a 23-foot birdie putt on No. 4, and climbed back into a tie at 12 under with a birdie on the par-3 No. 6.

Just as Furyk was finding his groove, though, Woods was picking up steam.

Beginning the day five strokes behind Furyk and Curtis, he surged into the lead with birdie-birdie-eagle on Nos. 9-11. He hit huge drives on No. 9 and 10 -- 305 and 354 yards, respectively -- but his showing on the par-5 11th hole was his best of the day.

It didn't look like it at the start, when he pushed his tee shot off to the right. Woods knew it was trouble, muttering as soon as the ball left his club. But he got a lucky bounce. Two of them, actually.

Jim Furyk earned his 10th career TOUR victory on Sunday. (Feldman/WireImage)

The ball hit the cart path and bounced back toward the fairway. He was on the green with his second shot, even if it was 54 feet away from the cup. His putt rolled ever so slowly toward the cup and when it looked as if it might go in, Woods lifted his putter in the air and started backing away.

When the ball dropped, he threw both arms in the air, screamed and pumped his fist twice. That put him at 13 under, and gave him a share of the lead with Furyk.

"It's always fun to get out there and mix it up and feeling the adrenaline rush and trying to win the tournament," Woods said. "That's why you practice. That's why you bust your butt all those hours on the range and putting green and chipping area, to get yourself in that position."

When his score was posted on the leaderboards, shouts could be heard all over the course.

"I had half a dozen people telling me Tiger's coming to get me," Furyk said. "It was funny more than anything else because I wanted to say, `Yeah, I know."'

And he wasn't flustered by it. He made birdie putts of 15, 17 and 11 feet to get to 15 under, and had a chance for another on No. 13. But his putt curled around the cup and refused to drop.

No matter. This week, it Woods who would come up a bit short. After a three-putt bogey on the par-4 13th hole, he banged his second shot from the bunker on No. 14 off the lip and advanced it only a few feet, leaving it in the sand.

He put his next shot two feet from the pin to save bogey, but his hopes of winning a fourth title this year were all but over.

"I fully expect a guy of that caliber to put up a fight and make a run like he did," Furyk said. "He made a good run at me ... but I fired right back."

Divots: Vijay Singh fired a 2-over 73 on Sunday to finish at 4-under 280 ... Curtis' finish was his best since the British Open.

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