Garcia vaults into lead with 65

Spain's Sergio Garcia played near flawless golf from tee to green on Saturday in shooting a five-under-par 65 to take a two-stroke lead after three rounds of the EDS Byron Nelson Championship.

Jerry Kelly carded a 67 and holds solo second place on nine-under 201.

Second-round leader Tiger Woods once again had problems off the tee, but finished with an even-par 70 and an eight-under 202 total to share third place with South African Deane Pappas, who recorded a 66.

Britain's Luke Donald fired the round of the day, a 64, to climb from a tie for 49th to a share of fifth place. Joining Donald on 203 were world number two Vijay Singh of Fiji, Briny Baird, Duffy Waldorf, Dudley Hart and Mark O'Meara.

Woods got off to a slow start, making bogey on two of the first five holes. The world number one then rattled off three birdies from the seventh to the 11th but bogeyed the 14th to fall back to even for the round.

After finding the rough and trees on the right off the 18th tee, Woods hit a splendid shot to about 12 feet of the hole. However, he failed to take advantage when his putt drifted just right of the hole.

Just as he did in shooting an opening-round 65, Woods hit only six fairways off the tee on Saturday. Unlike his first 18 holes when he needed only 26 putts, Woods took 31 in the third round.

Garcia, who has not won in the U.S. since the 2002 Mercedes Championships, was a marked contrast to Woods, at least from tee to green.

The Spaniard hit every fairway but one and found every green in regulation. Like Woods, though, his putting was only average, as he took the same 31 strokes on the green as did the American.

Garcia also had a 12-footer for birdie at the home hole, but missed the putt that would have extended his lead to three strokes.

Woods said: "I knew I could get back to even par hopefully by the turn, which would have been great, and then hopefully shot under par on the back nine, put myself in double digits. I didn't quite do that, but at least I left myself with a chance come tomorrow."

Garcia said: "I think I played very nicely all day long, drove the ball very nicely. That's always important the way the course is playing this year, as thick as the rough is."

He added: "I've been working very hard on my game and it's nice to see how much consistency I've gotten from all that practising.

"It's just a matter of waiting for it and I'm just working hard on my putting and waiting for it to happen. As soon as I start making putts, it should be fun."

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