Tiger Woods in putting distance at Wyndham Championship after three rounds

While a Wyndham win would go a long way to bolstering Woods’ battered psyche, if not quiet the expanding crowd of armchair swing coaches, it’s what an 11th-hour walk-off would do for his competitive fortunes that may be more interesting.

While joint leader at the halfway stage alongside Woods, Hoge dropped off the pace after suffering five bogeys in an error-ridden round of 72 which meant he went into the final round on nine under.

Many played well Saturday.

Gore is looking for the second Tour victory of his career, but noticed how well Woods is playing. “People have been asking me is it your season, and could this be my season”, he said.

Woods is in a share of seventh position alongside Germany’s Martin Kaymer, Swede Carl Pettersson and Davis Love III. Blixt shot a career-best 62, and Brown had a 66.

Eight others were within two strokes, including Hoge who was even after 10 holes. If there is an issue, Woods would only say that “I’m stiff, ” a day after joking that “I’m old”.

He missed the cuts within the final three majors and hasn’t completed higher than a tie for 17th on the Masters.

For some gamers, the precedence was to earn sufficient factors to qualify for the playoffs or hold their tour card for subsequent yr. A solo second-place finish might be enough for Woods, who’s at No. 187.

Followed by an admiring gallery, Woods hit some shots of the highest quality on Friday, but also some poor ones, including a two-iron off the 10th tee that he pulled so badly he was lucky to avoid some trees 150 yards away. Charl Schwartzel was the ultimate bubble golfer with a No. 125 ranking entering the tournament.

For the third straight day, Woods got the rock star treatment at Sedgefield, where it seemed everyone on the course was with his group.

He completed his spherical with back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes, closing by sinking a 50-foot putt.

He may have suffered a late lapse, but Tiger Woods is in contention to do something few would have believed in recent weeks: Win a tournament.

Mize up two strokes in Washington: SNOQUALMIE, Wash.

And then, playing under a hot afternoon sun that sped up those undulating greens, Woods nearly matched it.

“I wasn’t quite as sharp as yesterday”.

DeChambeau won the par-4 11th and 13th with birdies to take a 3-up lead and halved the next three to end the match.

“Woods” five-foot par putt on the ultimate hole rolled across the lip of the cup & did a 180-degree turn, spoiling his probability at a bogey-free spherical.

No”, Woods said. “I didn’t realize the back surgery was going to take that much of a toll on me. “The great thing about golf, you can always get a little bit better”.

The former world number one said he would not allow himself to become distracted by the prospect of booking his place in the postseason. Several times this week, Woods has referred to pointers Love gave him.