Tiger Woods, fired by two eagles and a birdie in six holes, vaulted into British Open contention with a two-under-par 69 in Saturday's third round.

Although the world number one dropped four shots on the treacherous second nine, he also birdied the par-five 14th to stay in the hunt for his ninth career major.

The 27-year-old American began a sun-baked day at Royal St George's four behind overnight leader Davis Love III, and he finished it tied for third at one-over 214, two adrift of third-round pacesetter Thomas Bjorn.

"I'm very pleased with the way I played today and I got off to a solid start," said Woods, whose last major triumph came at the 2002 U.S. Open.

"The front nine is probably your scoring nine, and you look at everybody's card the same way.

"It's very difficult to make birdies on the back nine, with most of the holes into the wind or kind or cross (wind)."

Wearing his trademark third-day black shirt, he snatched his first eagle of the tournament at the par-five 497-yard fourth.

He split the fairway with a perfect drive, then flew his five-iron approach into the heart of the green before holing out from 15 feet.

There was even more drama three holes later when the world number one spectacularly holed out from a greenside bunker to eagle the par-five seventh.

His ball ran 60 feet across the width of the green before dropping into the cup, sparking immediate celebration from Woods, who raised his arms skywards before 'high-fiving' his caddie Steve Williams.

"It was a tough bunker shot because it was close to the back lip," he said. "It came out great, but it wasn't a shot that I was trying to get close, I was just trying to get the ball on top (of the green) somehow.

"Holing it was real bonus and it felt pretty good because you feel like you got away with one."

Woods, the 2000 British Open champion at St Andrews, picked up his fifth shot of the afternoon at the ninth, holing a curling 30-footer for a birdie-three to move to two under, one clear of Denmark's Bjorn.

At that point, they were the only men below par at that stage.

Having raced to the turn in five-under 31, Woods battled on the difficult closing holes at Sandwich, bogeying the 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th to lose his early momentum.

However, he narrowly missed out on an eagle-three at the 550-yard 14th, where his approach putt halted on the edge of the cup, giving him a tap-in for birdie.

He completed his round with an up and down from just off the back of the green at the last to save his par.

"You know you're going to get some tough bounces on this golf course, and some of the bounces went my way today," said Woods. "But I also got two really bad breaks on the back nine.

"On 11, I hit a six-iron to about 15 feet and it ended up left of the bunker, stymied. And on 17, I hit a nice tee shot in the right middle of the fairway, and it kicked off straight left."

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