Make room for another Tiger Woods entry in the Masters Tournament record book un-der the "age of champions" category.

With his victory at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday, Woods replaced Jack Nicklaus as the youngest player to win four Masters titles.

Nicklaus was 32 when he won his fourth green jacket in 1972.

Woods was 29 years, three months and 10 days when he won Sunday.

Arnold Palmer, the only other player with at least four Masters titles, won his fourth and final title at age 34 in 1964.

Woods, who shot 12-under 276 and beat Chris DiMarco on the first hole of sudden death Sunday, is already the youngest Masters champion (age 21, in 1997).

Nicklaus holds the record for youngest second-time winner (25) and third-time winner (26).

The fourth Masters victory for Woods has a nice ring to it for another reason. He's the first four-time Masters champion under age 30. His other victories came in 1997, 2001 and 2002.

"I think it's pretty neat for me to have an opportunity to have won four before the age of 30," Woods said. "No one's done that, so to do something that no one has ever done is pretty neat."

"It's impressive winning once or twice," said 1982 champion Craig Stadler, who also won his title in a playoff.

Sunday's victory ended the longest major championship victory drought of Woods' career - he hadn't won since the U.S. Open in June 2002 - a stretch of 10 majors.

"The man's impressive," said Jerry Kelly, who tied for 20th place. "The guy is never gone. He's so much better than anybody mentally."

"Ten majors is not that long," said Woods, who has now won nine majors. "Some guys go without (a major) for life. I've had my championships. I know what it takes; it's just a matter of putting myself there. I put myself there a couple of times (since winning the 2002 U.S. Open) and didn't get the job done. This time, I got the job done."

Woods, who has now played in 11 Masters, certainly knows how to close the deal at Augusta National when he holds the 54-hole lead. He's been the third round leader four times and won each time. He led by three shots after 54 holes this year, and needed all of them to hold off DiMarco, who shot a final-round 4-under-par 68 to 71 for Woods.

Woods finished the tournament with 24 birdies, one off the record set by Phil Mickelson last year. On the negative side, Woods had 12 bogeys and finished 49th out of the 50 players who made the cut in driving accuracy (he hit only 32 of 56 fairways on the non-par 3 holes, but averaged 292.3 yards in driving distance).

"He's better than everybody else; he doesn't have to swing perfectly to score," said Joe Ogilvie, who finished tied for 25th in his Masters debut.

When Woods missed fairways, he was able to manufacture creative shots to make up for it. He still hit 54 greens in regulation and needed only 115 putts, which tied for 10th in the field.

"The things he does on a golf course is even fun for professionals to watch," Ogilvie said.

Part of the reason Woods wasn't accurate off the tee is because his new swing hasn't completely taken hold.

It has been just over a year that Woods and teacher Hank Haney have been working on making the swing more efficient.

Changing his swing is nothing new for Woods. Of his four Masters titles, Woods has won three of them with different swings. He and then-instructor Butch Harmon drastically altered the swing he used to win the 1997 Masters, and Woods used that new swing to win the Masters in 2001 and 2002. Now he's won after working with Haney, who has changed Woods' plane angle in an effort to make the swing more symmetrical from start to finish.

For much of last season, Woods said he was "close" to being comfortable with the new swing. Asked Sunday if he was there, Woods said, "I don't think you're ever there. You never arrive, but if you do, you might as well quit because you're already there. You can't get any better.

"And as players, you should never have that moment," Woods said. "You're always trying to get better. So to answer that question, no, I'll never be there."

Though he trusted the new swing all week, Woods admitted it "didn't work" on the final two holes of regulation, when errant shots led to bogeys.

He regrouped on the first hole of the playoff, ripping a 3-wood off the tee on No. 18 and then knocking an 8-iron to within 15 feet of the hole. Woods made that birdie putt for the victory.

"I got into a playoff and then I hit - for some reason I hit two of the best golf shots I had hit all week," Woods said. "The 3-wood was perfect. I felt so good over that shot and then the 8-iron I hit in there was flushed. That golf shot was cool, that thing to go up there just the way it did, and I made a nice little putt, too."

Reach David Westin at (706) 724-0851 or david.westin@augustachronicle.com.