Tiger pulls five shots clear

Tiger Woods birdied the last two holes for a five-under-par 67 and a five-shot lead after the third round of the WGC-American Express Championship on Saturday.

The world number one, two clear of the elite 64-man field overnight after successive rounds of 65, finished another sun-drenched day at Mount Juliet at 19-under 197.

Although he never quite matched the quality of his play from the first two days, he is yet to drop a shot in the tournament and is now comfortably placed to win the sixth World Golf Championship (WGC) title of his career.

"Today I actually drove the ball a little better but conditions were a little more difficult -- the wind was blowing a little bit harder and the pins were tucked away in some pretty good corners," said Woods.

"I was possibly a little more conservative off the tees to get the ball in play but I'm happy with my position right now."

His haul of five birdies on day three put him well clear of a group of six players at 14-under-par 202.

Sharing second place were Fiji's Vijay Singh (66), South Africa's Retief Goosen (68) and Americans David Toms (69), Steve Lowery (69), Jerry Kelly (70) and Scott McCarron, who fired a course-record of eight-under-par 64.

With his 54-hole aggregate, Woods shattered the previous tournament record of nine-under-par 207, set by Japan's Hidemichi Tanaka at Valderrama in 2000, the second time the event was held.

Arguably the greatest front-runner in the history of the game, Woods has won 29 of 33 tournaments where he has led going into the final day.

Should he clinch victory on Sunday without dropping a shot, it would be the first bogey-free success of his career.

Asked what that would mean to him, he replied: "It meant that I not only played well, but I really grinded well the entire day.

"I sucked up and made those big par putts. As I've always said, you feel better after making a big par save than you do making birdie."

Although he has dominated the tournament throughout, Woods was overshadowed earlier on Saturday by McCarron's superb 64.

The Nevada-based professional, eight shots off the pace at the start of the day, reeled off eight birdies in a blemish-free display.

His eight-under-par round improved on the successive 65s fired by Woods earlier in the tournament, later matched by the second-round efforts of David Duval and Kelly.

"I got off to a bad start in this tournament but, since then, I've played some pretty good golf," said McCarron, who had carded scores of 71 and 67 in the first two rounds.

SPECTATOR INJURIES

Most eyes, though, were on Woods who missed a birdie opportunity from five feet at the par-four first, where he had to delay his tee shot after several spectators flanking the right side of the hole were injured by an out-of-control golf buggy.

None of the injuries was serious, said a tournament official, with the worst a suspected broken ankle.

Unflustered, the 26-year-old American continued to produce flawless golf from tee to green in the near-perfect conditions and he finally made his first move when he sank a birdie putt from six feet at the 552-yard fifth.

At that point, he was just one clear of the fast-charging Chris DiMarco, who had reeled off five birdies in a brilliant first nine of 31 and then picked up another at the 562-yard 10th to move to 14 under overall.

But DiMarco ran up a double-bogey six at the 435-yard 12th and a bogey at the par-four 13th to drop off the pace and finished in a tie for 14th after carding a disappointing 70.

Woods, meanwhile, picked up further shots at the eighth and 10th before his birdie-birdie finish put him five strokes clear of the field. The title is now his to win or lose.

"Anyone can come out tomorrow and shoot a low one because the greens here are so pure -- so good," he said.

"I have to keep making birdies and keep playing well."

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