Tiger Woods made it all look so routine, from a 4-iron into 10 feet to set up an eagle on the opening hole to the most simple par on the final hole to build a four-shot lead on a Blue Monster course he has tamed the past three years.
Then he was off to Key Biscayne to watch Roger Federer.
Saturday at the CA Championship might have been Woods’ version of game, set and match.
With only one mistake on a windy day loaded with them, Woods shot a 4-under 68 to seize control at another World Golf Championship, putting him in prime position to win at Doral for the third straight year in his final tournament before the Masters.
Woods is 30-1 when he takes a lead into the final round on the PGA Tour. His only loss with a 54-hole lead came at age 20 in the 1996 Quad City Classic, his third tournament as a professional.
“We all know when he’s at his best,” Thomas Bjorn said, “he’s very difficult.”
The evidence would suggest no one has a spitting chance.
Even when Woods’ lead was whittled to one after his streak of 29 holes without a bogey ended on No. 6, he answered with consecutive birdies to restore the lead and then let Ernie Els and his other challengers fall away. Woods was at 11-under 205.
Brett Wetterich, who had never met Woods until they became Ryder Cup teammates in August, shot 67 and will be paired with him in the final group, and for the first time in competition.
About the only intrigue came from Sergio Garcia.
Disgusted by missing yet another short putt, the 27-year-old Spaniard tapped in for a three-putt bogey and then spit into the cup. Garcia didn’t deny this lapse in etiquette, only its effect on the guys playing behind him.
“I just missed the putt and I wasn’t too happy,” Garcia told NBC Sports. “Don’t worry. It did go in the middle (of the cup) and wasn’t going to affect anyone else. If it did, I would have wiped it off.”
Asked about the incident after the TV interview, he snapped, “I just said it. I’m not going to repeat it.”
Along with owning Doral, Woods has won this WGC event the last two years (in San Francisco and London), and five out of seven times. He will be trying to win his 13th world title since the series began in 1999.
“If you’re leading, usually you’re playing halfway decent,” Woods said. “Hopefully, tomorrow I can handle my business.”
LPGA Tour: Lorena Ochoa has come a long way since that awful afternoon two years ago. So she’s ignoring any demons lingering at Superstition Mountain, Ariz., and seems well on her way to her 10th tour victory and first of the year.
The tour’s reigning player of the year shot a 3-under 69 to take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the Safeway International.
Ochoa, who finished off a second-round 64 on Saturday morning in the weather-delayed event, was at 14-under 202 total.
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (69) and South Korea’s Jeong Jang (68) were second at 10-under 206. Shi Hyun Ahn (68) was 8-under, six behind the leader. Annika Sorenstam (69) was in a group of four at 6-under.
European Tour: Daniel Vancsik had four birdies to take the lead after the third round of the Madeira Islands Open in Santo Da Serra.
