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Woods & Garcia set for final day duel

Defending champion Tiger Woods moved into the lead with a six-under 66 in Saturday's third round of the Bay Hill Invitational. Woods' 12-under-par 204 total has him one shot ahead of Spain's Sergio Garcia and two strokes in front of Chris Perry.

Vijay Singh, who will defend his Masters title in three weeks, birdied five consecutive holes on the back nine Saturday to match Woods for the low round of the day. He stands alone in fourth at nine-under, while a host of golfers including Greg Norman (68), Lee Janzen (69) and Phil Mickelson (70) are another shot back at minus- eight.

Woods began the day two shots behind second-round leader Paul Goydos but took the lead with five birdies over a six-hole stretch on the front nine. He made the turn at 11-under, then opened a two- stroke advantage with a 30-foot birdie putt at the 11th.

Woods failed to birdie the next four holes, including the 15th, where he missed his first green of the day.

After driving into the left fairway bunker at the par-five 16th, Woods attempted to reach the green from over 200 yards out with a six-iron. But the shot was short and well right, and his ball dropped into a pond. Then, after taking a penalty, he tried to execute a flop shot that ended up on the front of the green, 35 feet short of the hole.

Woods two putted for bogey, his first mistake since he suffered a triple-bogey on his second-to-last hole of Thursday's first round.

He recovered with flair, however, knocking a high fade toward the pin at the par-three 17th. Woods stared the shot down all the way to within a foot of the cup, where he tapped in to get back to 12-under.

Although he looked as if he might be in for more trouble when his tee shot found the rough at 18, Woods muscled his approach out of the thick grass to 20 feet. He missed a birdie putt that would had given him the best round of the week at Bay Hill, but made the short par putt to secure his first lead in a PGA Tour event this year.

Of the 22 times that he has held a 54-hole lead in a tournament on the PGA Tour, Woods has gone on to post 20 victories. He has also done it three times in five tries in international events, although his most recent final-round letdown came just two weeks ago at the European Tour's Dubai Desert Classic.

Woods had a one-shot lead over Denmark's Thomas Bjorn through three rounds at the course in the Middle East. In Sunday's final round, Bjorn pulled even with Woods with one hole to play, then watched as Woods' terrible tee shot led to an approach from the rough that fell into water short of the last green. Woods wound up carding a double-bogey for a share of second, his best finish in any tournament in 2001.

While Woods is in search of his first PGA Tour victory in over six months, the 21-year-old Garcia is hoping for his first-ever win on American soil.

Garcia fought back from an up-and-down start on Saturday by making two birdies before the turn to climb to nine-under par. After six straight pars at the start the back nine, Garcia was able to sandwich a clutch par save out of the sand at 17 between birdies at 16 and 18 for a third-round 68.

In 1999, Garcia became the youngest player to lead a PGA Championship when, at the age of 19, he grabbed the opening-round advantage with a 66 at Medinah. Despite some swashbuckling play that included a no-look recovery shot from the base of a tree on the final day, Garcia finished the major championship one stroke behind Woods.

Perry made a late surge with four back-nine birdies to take third place on Saturday with a 69. Scott McCarron, who made all pars on the front nine, made it to within a shot of Woods before finding a watery grave at 18. His triple-bogey seven at the last dropped him into the logjam at eight-under with Norman, Janzen, Mickelson, Harrison Frazar and Steve Lowery.

Goydos struggled to a one-over 73, which dropped him into a share of 11th at seven-under with Brandt Jobe, Jeff Sluman, Scott Hoch and Grant Waite.

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