Woods in hunt after third round 66

Tiger Woods had just escaped to play another day. Now his mind was churning, figuring out the possible ways he could come from 11 strokes behind to win his third straight green jacket.

One moment he was a putt away from missing the cut. The next, planning his charge onto the leaderboard.

"You never know. If I can get to even par at the end of the day, things are looking all right," Woods said.

No way.

It hardly seemed possible.

Even for Tiger Woods.

He had come back to finish his second round Saturday morning only to shoot 3-over on the eight holes. He had to punch a shot out of the trees and then get up and down from a bunker just to keep from going home early.

And now he was thinking of winning the tournament?

"You look at the fact you're still in the ball game. At the time I was only seven shots out of second place," Woods said. "That's not that much out on this golf course."

Turns out, he had the math right.

Woods turned the Masters upside down - as only he can do - in the third round, making six birdies in a 66 that vaulted him 37 places up the leaderboard and left him only four shots behind unlikely leader Jeff Maggert.

He's won three green jackets taking a lead into the final round. Incredibly, Woods has a chance to win a fourth by completing the greatest Masters comeback of all time.

No one has ever won after being 10 shots down after the first round. No one has ever won after being 11 shots down after two rounds.

Of course, no one has ever won three straight green jackets before, either.

"Even though I'm four back, that's not inconceivable, that's for sure," Woods said. "Anything can happen on that back nine. You just need to get yourself in position."

Those can't be comforting words to Maggert, or to Mike Weir, who is two shots off the pace.

Woods will be off before them Sunday with a chance to make a few birdies, get the roars echoing through Amen Corner and build momentum. He knows the pressures of the back nine, and he knows what it takes to get it done.

At Amen Corner, strokes can change hands quickly, with one bad swing or, even worse, one bad bounce.

For a time, it didn't look as though Woods would even have that chance.

When Woods arrived early Saturday to finish his second round, he hoped he could trim enough shots off his 5-over total to get him close to even par.

But he made double bogey on the par-3 fourth hole after hitting it into two bunkers and, after a three-putt bogey on the eighth hole, needed to par his finishing hole, the ninth, just to make the cut.

His tee shot scattered the gallery down the right side, leaving Woods behind a tree and in big trouble. He took out a 5-iron, punched it under the tree in front of him and watched as it bounced into the bunker guarding the left side of the green.

From there, he nonchalantly blasted the sand shot to within 3 feet, then jammed the putt into the right side of the cup.

"I knew that was for the cut," Woods said. "I said, the hell with it, just make it. You don't change your routine, you don't do anything differently. Just go out there and have the same mindset."

More relaxed than relieved, Woods went back to the home he is renting for the week, had some lunch and thought about the challenge ahead. He came back, hit some balls, then teed off on the 10th hole, 11 shots behind.

"I knew if I could get something going I could get back in this tournament," Woods said.

That something came unexpectedly on No. 11, where Woods stroked a putt from the front of the green and watched it cross the green before curling to the left at the last minute and falling for his first birdie of the day.

Two holes later, Woods hit his second shot right on the par-5 and thought it might catch the water. It didn't, and he hit a magnificent chip to set up his second birdie.

"It should have been wet but it stayed up. I said, 'You know, let's keep this thing going,"' Woods said. "After that I hit solid shot after solid shot from there."

Woods made the turn in 33, added a two-putt birdie on the par-5 second and then dropped a long putt on No. 6 to get to even par.

That was just where he wanted to be, but Woods wasn't done. He hit a wedge to within a foot on No. 7 to get to 1-under, then lipped out a birdie putt on his final hole that could have brought him even closer.

"A lot of times you get out of your own way and it just happens," Woods said.

If it happens again Sunday, one legend will grow and one tournament will become even more legendary.

Woods has no reason to think it won't.

"It makes you feel assured knowing you've done it here before," he said. "I know I have that experience on the back nine. I know I know how to win a major championship."

Best of all for Woods, the other players know it, too.