Woods Struggles Late in British 3rd Round

Setting aside his misadventures, Tiger Woods eagled a pair of holes and took the lead at the British Open for the first time Saturday. A pair of bogeys later left him behind Thomas Bjorn and Sergio Garcia.

Woods, who lost a ball in the first round and three-putted from 3 feet in the second, started the third round brilliantly on a steamy, sunny day at Royal St. George’s.

But any thought that Woods might run away from the field was halted on the treacherous back nine, where the two bogeys knocked him back to even par. He was one stroke behind Bjorn, the only player below par.

The Danish golfer made a couple of birdies on the front side to reach 1 under through nine holes.

No one was more unfortunate than England’s Mark Roe, who would have gone to the final day in contention for his first major title after shooting a 4-under-par 67. Instead, he was disqualified for failing to swap scorecards with his playing partner, Jesper Parnevik.

When they signed in the scoring tent, Parnevik’s 81 was on Roe’s card – and Roe’s score was on the Swede’s card.

“How stupid is that?” Parnevik said. “We checked our scores with the scorers. We had two (Royal & Ancient) officials checking. I can’t believe in the 10 minutes we were in there, they didn’t catch it.”

Roe ended the day 1 over, but his tournament was over.

“What can you do?” he said. “I’ve just played one of the greatest rounds of my life, and I can’t play tomorrow.”

Woods shot a 5-under-par 31 on the front side, closing that part of his round with a 30-foot birdie putt at No. 9 that pushed him 2 under for the tournament.

The fans were electrified by Woods’ surge to the top of the leaderboard. He began the day four strokes back.

At No. 4, a short par-5, he reached the green in two and sank an eagle putt from about 15 feet. That was merely the warmup for a magical shot at the par-5 seventh, where he holed out his third shot from a bunker on the left side of the green to charge into the lead.

Woods threw up his arms and looked skyward as the ball dropped. Then he climbed from the sand, high-fived caddie Steve Williams and pumped his fist several times.

Then came another Tiger moment. Standing over the long putt at No. 9, he gently pushed the ball over ridge and let it curl to the right – straight into the cup.

Woods let out a deep breath and smiled, looking like a man who intended to take control of this British Open.

It certainly was a different look than Woods had a year ago, when he struggled through his worst day as a pro at Muirfield. Going into the third round just two strokes off the lead, he shot 81 in conditions exactly opposite from these: cold and rainy, with gale-force winds.

Davis Love III was the only player below par heading to the third round, holding a two-stroke edge. But the margin quickly evaporated with a couple of three-putt bogeys. He shot 38 on the front nine and made the turn at 1 over.

Garcia was at even par. Kenny Perry and S.K. Ho were at 1 over.

Nick Faldo knew this was a day to go low. The three-time British champion went out early and shot a 67, closing the round with birdies at the final two holes – two of the toughest on the course.

“It was that classic early Saturday morning round,” Faldo said. “You have a free run at it, so you just go play.”

Pierre Fulke also posted a 67 to match Faldo for the best rounds of the tournament.

A blazing sun baked the already rock-hard course, making greens seem like concrete, but the afternoon players got a break when the winds off Sandwich Bay remained fairly calm.

Nothing bothered Faldo, who extended his British Open record by shooting his 35th round in the 60s. Last year, the Englishman broke Jack Nicklaus’ mark of 33; Woods has 11.

“I wanted to get one more so I can keep Tiger at bay for a couple of more years,” Faldo said.

At No. 17, he smoked a 3-iron that stopped 4 feet from the cup. At 18, he hit another solid drive, knocked a 7-iron to 8 feet and sank the putt while the home crowd roared.

“What a great finish,” Faldo said. “That’s not what I expected.”

He wasn’t the only player with a good score. Early on, seven players posted scores below par, compared with just 13 in the first two rounds combined.

“The first five holes, the greens were relatively soft – if you can call them ‘soft’ – but once we got into the back nine, you could see them drying out and getting crusty,” said Brian Davis, who shot 68. “Obviously, the leaders have to deal with that this afternoon.”