Tiger Woods dropped four shots on the back nine to lose his momentum just as he looked poised to take the British Open by the scruff of the neck in a sun-drenched third round on Saturday.

The world number one eagled the fourth and seventh holes to lead the tournament for the first time, but bogeys at the 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th left Woods with a 69 and dropped him back to one over par, two behind leader Thomas Bjorn of Denmark.

"I'm very pleased with the way I played today. You're going to get some tough bounces out there and some of the bounces went my way today," Woods told reporters.

"I got two really bad breaks on the back nine at 11 and 17, which caused two bogeys. The others were a three putt and a terrible swing with the driver."

Bjorn also eagled the fourth hole and birdied the ninth before nine straight pars left him with a round of 69 and a one-under-par total of 212.

The Dane was one shot clear of second-round leader Davis Love III, and two ahead of Woods, Fiji's Vijay Singh, Spain's Sergio Garcia, and Americans Ben Curtis and Kenny Perry.

Briton Mark Roe would have joined the group on one over after a superb round of 67, equalling the best of the tournament, but he was disqualified along with his playing partner Jesper Parnevik for signing for the wrong score.

The pair failed to swap cards at the start of the round, mistakenly filling in their own scores before handing them in to the recorder in the scorers' hut .

Bjorn, who also parred every hole on the back nine in the second round, was left in pole position as he bids to claim his first major title.

"I haven't been leading a major this late before and I don't know yet how to win a major," Bjorn, who was runner-up to Woods in the 2000 British Open at St Andrews, told a news conference. "I can only believe in my golf swing and trust in that."

Woods claimed his first eagle of the tournament at the par-five fourth hole before a spectacular bunker shot at the seventh sent the ball unerringly into the hole from about 40 feet.

He celebrated in uncharacteristically flamboyant style, raising both hands in the air and looking up at the sky, but kept his concentration sufficiently to notch another birdie with a 20-foot putt at the ninth before his problems on the back nine left him at one-over 214.

The 27-year-old American, seeking his second British Open victory and ninth major championship, had made a solid start with three straight pars, including one at the opening hole where he suffered a triple-bogey seven in the first round.

The experienced Singh, chasing his third major, birdied three of the last four holes to complete a round of 69, while Garcia holed a monstrous chip on the 17th green to save par on the way to a 70, the same as Perry and Curtis.

Love suffered four bogeys to slip down the leaderboard before an eagle three at the 14th pushed him back to level par overall and well placed to challenge for his second major title after a round of 72.

Defending champion Ernie Els endured a frustrating day, slipping back to six over before a birdie at the last left him with a 72 as well and five over for the tournament.

Earlier, Nick Faldo rolled back the years with a sparkling 67, matching the efforts of Roe and Sweden's Pierre Fulke.

The six-times major champion made six birdies, sinking an eight-foot putt on the final green to complete his lowest British Open round since 1995.

The 46-year-old Faldo, who won the last of his three Opens at Muirfield in 1992, finished at four over par, a shot behind Fulke and two adrift of South Korean SK Ho and Phillip Price, who continued his consistent form with a two-under-par 69.

Four other former British Open champions drifted out of contention.

Australian Greg Norman, who won the last Open at Sandwich in 1993, could only manage a 74 to finish at nine over par, the same score as Tom Lehman, John Daly ended at 10 over, and Mark O'Meara slumped to a 77 and a 14-over-par total of 227 .

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