Woods removed the ball from the cup and stuck it in his pocket, then removed his cap and thrust both arms in the air as sweat poured down his face from a fourth straight day with temperatures topping 100.
Stephen Ames, who played in the final group with Woods, made bogey on the first two holes and wound up with a 76.
Arron Oberholser settled down after a bogey-bogey start for a 69 that gave him a tie for fourth with John Senden (71) at 279, which secured a spot for both in the Masters next year.
Els said if had been watching from home, he would have bet the house on Woods winning his 13th major. Inside the ropes, the Big Easy played as though he had an ace up his sleeve. Birdies on two of the first five holes at least got his name on the leaderboard, and Els kept plugging away with another birdie on the eighth that briefly drew him to within two shots.
Woods was two groups behind, and after a sluggish start, he began to separate himself from his challengers. He followed a 5-foot birdie on the seventh with a 25-foot birdie putt from just off the green at the par-5 eighth. Woods backpedaled as the ball drew near the hole, then slammed his fist in celebration.
But his knee buckled slightly on the slope, and he appeared to wince. His walk was steady down the ninth fairway, but that five-shot lead was anything but that.
Els continued to gamble, waiting for the 10th green to clear and belting driver on the 366-yard dogleg to just left of the green, leaving him a simple up-and-down for birdie. Austin also began his big run, and when Woods three-putted the 14th, the lead was down to one.
"I felt like, you know, I got myself into this mess, now I've got to go earn my way out of it," Woods said. "I did some serious yelling at myself going to the 15th tee."
The cheers died in the final hour and the outcome was inevitable.
Until proven otherwise, Woods simply doesn't lose when he has the lead going into the final round. He took control of this tournament with his record-tying 63 in the second round, and became the fifth player to shoot 63 in a major and go on to win.
Woods went one stretch winning 7-of-11 majors. He now is on a 5-of-12 run, and getting closer to Nicklaus.
"Even though I'm at 13, it's still a long way away," he said. "You can't get it done in one year. It's going to take time. It took Jack 20 years to get it done, 20-plus years. Hopefully, health permitting and everything goes right and I keep improving, I'll one day surpass that."
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