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Love maintains lead at -14

Davis Love III shot a 69 to get to 14-under-par 202 and keep his spot atop the leaderboard through three rounds of the Western Open near Chicago. Hot on his heels is Scott Hoch, who birdied the last four holes at Cog Hill's Dubsdread course for the day's co-low round of 66 and second place at 13-under.

First-round leader Mark Wiebe (67) and Brandel Chamblee (70) are tied for third at 10-under 206, while Phil Mickelson posted a five-under 67 Saturday to take sole possession of fifth place at minus-nine.

Tiger Woods collected two eagles in the third round but offset them with a pair of double-bogeys. He did manage to pick up five strokes over the last five holes for his second consecutive 68 and stands seven shots off the pace with 14 other players at seven-under 209.

Love's 90-yard approach to the par-four 10th left him just two feet for birdie, the first of three to start his back nine and take him to 14-under par. He missed a 10-footer for eagle but tapped in for birdie at the 11th and holed a six-foot birdie putt at 12.

His third shot to the par-five 15th landed in the rough over the green, but he was able to execute a delicate chip that found the bottom of the cup for a birdie that gave him a five-shot lead at 15-under.

Love promptly dropped a shot at the 16th when he missed a five-foot putt for par. He had an opportunity to negate the mistake at 18, but his bid for birdie on the last green stopped on the edge of the cup.

"I was just trying to birdie every hole," said Love, who began the day with a three-shot lead. "I was just trying to get as far ahead as I could. It's a tough course and one that you like to have a big lead on if you can get it. But Scott played real well coming in to cut it down."

After nearly notching an eagle at 15, Hoch made a 15-foot birdie at the 16th. He followed with a birdie from 30 feet at the 17th and another from eight feet at the 452-yard home hole.

While Love has been battling a disc problem in his neck for the past two months, Hoch has had to deal with a nagging injury to his wrist.

"It's not really affected my golf too much, let's say that," said Hoch, the winner of the Greater Greensboro Classic in April. "Once I get loosened up, it's really not affecting my golf."

Since missing the cut in his first three starts of the season, Hoch has recorded seven top-10 finishes and has finished outside the top 16 only twice in his last 12 events.

Woods began a roller coaster ride on the front nine when he rolled in a 35- foot eagle putt at the par-five fifth. He returned to even on the day at the par-three sixth, where he missed the green and three-putted for double-bogey.

At the seventh, Woods recovered from an errant drive by knocking his second shot to three feet to set up a birdie, only to double-bogey again at No 8.

The back-and-forth continued when Woods birdied the ninth and bogeyed the 11th, but he righted himself for good Saturday with a big-breaking birdie putt from 50 feet at 14.

An enormous drive at the 15th left Woods with a six-iron to the green. He hit his approach to 12 feet, smiled and played "catch-the-divot" with caddie Steve Williams as they made their way up the fairway.

Woods sank the putt for eagle at 15 and tacked on birdies at 17 and 18.

"Today was one of those rounds where I can't explain it. It was just an interesting day," said the top-ranked Woods, who had two eagles and two double-bogeys in the same round for the first time in his career. "I figured something out last night with my golf swing. I started hitting the ball the way I used to and started hitting the ball my normal distances again."

Woods won his fourth title of the season at the Memorial in early June. Since then he has finished in a tie for 12th at the U.S. Open and joint 16th at the Buick Classic.

Woods was the winner of the Western Open in 1997 and '99.

Mickelson, who captured his second title of the season at last week's Greater Hartford Open, leads the PGA Tour in birdies and made seven more on Saturday.

"It was kind of a fluke day," said Mickelson, who finished with birdies at 15, 16 and 17. "I'm not going to complain about five-under par, but if I were going to get myself in better position to win this tournament, I needed to make a few more."

Thunderstorms delayed play for two hours on Saturday.

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