Woods vaults up leaderboard with 65

Defending champion Tiger Woods surged into contention in the Western Open third round on Saturday, firing a six-under-par 65 in gusting winds to close to within four strokes of the lead.

The world number one, who also won the event in 1997 and 1999, finished at five-under 208, behind co-leaders Stephen Ames of Canada and Australia's Mark Hensby.

Ames shot a best-of-the-day 64 at Cog Hill Golf and Country Club to join Hensby (67) at the top of the leaderboard on nine-under 204.

Another Australian, Geoff Ogilvy, slipped back from a tie for first into outright third after bogeying the 18th hole. His 68 left him at eight under after 54 holes.

Australia's Stuart Appleby (67) and American Steve Lowery (70), one of three players who had shared the second-round lead, were tied for fourth on 206.

Woods was a further two shots back, level with 2003 U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk (68) and Mike Small (69), the men's golf coach at the University of Illinois.

The world number one, who began his round on the second nine, got off to a fast start with birdies at the first three holes.

After reaching the turn in three under, he birdied three of the next five holes before offsetting bogeys on six and seven with further birdies on eight and nine.

"I got off to an ideal start," said the 28-year-old American. "When you birdie the first three, you're looking pretty good.

"I really hit the ball well today and made some putts, which is nice. With the wind blowing like this, it wasn't easy."

His Saturday charge puts him firmly in contention going into the final round as he chases his first strokeplay title on the PGA Tour since last October.

"I have a chance," Woods said. "That's what I wanted to do is go out there and play well enough where at least I have a chance going into Sunday.

"If I play a very similar round, like I did today, tomorrow, you never know."

Of the five players ahead of Woods, only Appleby and Lowery are PGA Tour winners, Appleby having claimed five titles and Lowery two.

Woods, however, is well aware he has a task on his hands if he is to win the title for the fourth time in eight years.

"If the guys are at eight (under) and they end up at 11, it's going to be hard to catch them because they're in control of the destiny," he said. "If they go out and shoot three-, four-, five-under par tomorrow, it's their tournament.

"If they don't go anywhere, then guys who are four- or five-under par, like myself, definitely have a chance to win the tournament."

Canadian Ames is enjoying his best season on the PGA Tour, with eight top-10 finishes in 16 starts and earnings of $1,885,679.

"He's got to play the way he did today again," Ames said of the bid by Woods to win a fourth Western Open title.

"I'm sure he's capable of it. Right now I know he's struggling with his golf game, his golf swing, but I wouldn't put it out of Tiger to be jumping back up there at all."

Ames, a 40-year-old who joined the tour in 1998, said he would try to take the final round in his stride.

"At this stage, I don't press myself to see if I should win or can win," he said. "I'm trying to play each day as it comes, and when the chips fall where they should or they shouldn't, I'll just take it from there and go on from there.

"I've had a wonderful year, my best year so far, and I'm only through 17 of my 25 tournaments for the year. So I've still got a long way to go."

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