Tiger Woods clings to share of joint lead

Melbourne: An out-of-sorts Tiger Woods battled for a share of the lead after the third round of the Australian Masters on Saturday, as his rivals failed to capitalise on an off day for the world No 1.

Woods held a three-stroke lead going into the third round and seemed set to charge ahead after draining a monster birdie putt on the par-four second. But that was almost as good as it got for the 14-times major champion, who said he felt lucky to escape with an even par 72.

Woods ended the day joint leader with local hopes Greg Chalmers and James Nitties on 10 under par at the A$1.5 million (Dh5.1 million) co-sanctioned event. American Jason Dufner and Australia's Cameron Percy are two shots further back.

"I was very fortunate, somehow I found a way to shoot even par today because it certainly should have been a lot worse than that," Woods told reporters at Kingston Heath Golf Club.

Prolonged troubles

After recovering to shoot a four-under 68 after a mid-round slump with the driver a day earlier, Woods' troubles were more prolonged yesterday, the American finding bunkers on the sixth and eighth, and the fairway of the 10th when he was playing nine.

Although most of the 24,000 fans at Kingston Heath turned up expecting fireworks from Woods, it was his playing partner Dufner who stole the show early on.

Joint second overnight, the stocky American notched four birdies in six holes on the front nine to snatch the lead after the eighth, but surrendered it immediately with bogey on nine.

He fell back after two more dropped shots coming home.

Chalmers also took a one-stroke lead with his second successive birdie at the par-four ninth, but nerves appeared to get the better of the Australian on the back nine.

After six straight pars, Chalmers cracked on the par-four 16th, steering a five-foot par putt past the lip of the hole and falling back into joint second with Woods and Nitties.

Both Nitties and Chalmers missed birdie chances on the par-four 18th, leaving Woods pleased to still cling on to a share of the lead.

Scores

206 Greg Chalmers (Australia) 68 69 69; James Nitties (Australia) 66 71 69; Tiger Woods (US) 66 68 72

208 Jason Dufner (US) 70 67 71; Cameron Percy (Australia) 67 72 69; 209 Francois Delamontagne (France) 71 70 68; Tim Wilkinson (New Zealand) 71 71 67

210 Stuart Appleby (Australia) 69 70 71; Klas Eriksson (Sweden) 71 73 66; Ashley Hall (Australia) 69 69 72; Scott Laycock (Australia) 72 68 70; Michael Sim (Australia) 70 71 69; 211 Rod Pampling (Australia) 71 70 70; Alistair Presnell (Australia) 72 73 66; Adam Scott (Australia) 71 71 69; Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) 72 67 72

212 Seve Benson (Britain) 71 71 70; Mathew Goggin (Australia) 68 70 74

213 Leigh McKechnie (Australia) 73 71 69; Wade Ormsby (Australia) 71 69 73; Craig Scott (Australia) 71 72 70

214 Steven Bowditch (Australia) 71 68 75; Alejandro Canizares (Spain) 73 72 69; Branden Grace (South Africa) 66 75 73;Rick Kulacz (Australia) 69 76 69

Peter Nolan (Australia) 68 72 74; Manuel Villegas (Colombia) 70 68 76