A brief run by Tiger, and now everyone chasing Matsuyama

It’s going to take a little time.

“That was big, to not go down a shot and not lose any momentum”, Woods said. “And it feels pretty good about doing that”.

For the second time in those three days, though, the frenzy dissipated just as quickly as it had blossomed. Rose, an Albany resident who captured Olympic gold at Rio in August, pulled out with a bad back after shooting a 74 Thursday.

“Hideki is just playing unbelievable golf”, Woods said. “Nothing’s quite the same as playing and the waiting and the grinding and the wind and getting the numbers right and camera phones going off and people moving”, he said. Just don’t make any bogeys. The difference was how he finished.

No. But another indication that Woods is back to being Woods again – at least in the manner of how he grades himself – is that after a 2-under-par 70 in the third round, he wasn’t angry but wasn’t exactly pleased with the red-number result even knowing he’s been away for so long. He chipped to 12 feet and sank the birdie putt.

Schwartzel, the defending champion and four-time victor, found a hot streak with four straight birdies from Nos.

Johnson tried to stay with him, but had a hard time keeping it out of the sandy areas off the tee. The next shot was well beyond the hole.

Then, there were the crucial par saves with long putts that brought on the famous fist pump.

For the third time in three days, Woods was whipping the masses into a frenzy, evoking memories of the old Tigermania days, when the mere sight of his name on a leaderboard would captivate that ever-expanding audience. He lamented losing weight two years ago ahead of this very same event, although advisers and professionals, like his former coach Hank Haney, have said a skinnier frame is better for Woods’s longevity. That was the key. “So I just have to keep my head down”.

He has two scores under par, including a bogey-free 65 on Friday, and has made some understandable mistakes.

Refusing to cut Woods much slack after a 15-month-plus injury-enforced break, former PGA Tour victor Chamblee said “rust” was the wrong word to use.

If he looks slimmer, he says he picked up an illness from his children over Thanksgiving. “My opinion is he did too much of … the gym stuff”, Haney said in 2014. “Today was different”, Woods said. We’ve got three more days. “My body’s been through it”, he said. I’m not running like I used to when I was younger. “I don’t have any problem with suppleness and flexibility, but I also need to have stability”.

Well, he is Tiger Woods. “But I’m going to have to shoot a really special round”.

Another change is that he is at Albany without a swing coach. What we have to see from Woods first, and what the golf world hopes it will see from Woods, is consistency both in his game and his ability to play. He shot a 67 to tie Johnson at 12-under 132. Hall shot a 69. Australian star Adam Scott and New Zealand’s Ryan Fox were eight under.

American Harold Varner III (72) was 7 under.

Brandon Stone will take a 3-shot lead into the final round, when he’ll have defending champion Charl Schwartzel for company, after a second successive 66 took him to 17 under overall.