Stuart Appleby plays down Tiger battle

Stuart Appleby carries a one-shot lead into Sunday's final round of the Masters, 18 holes from becoming the first Australian to win the coveted green jacket.

Appleby will be paired with Tiger Woods and the 35-year-old Australian sounded as if he did not like his chances when asked about playing alongside the four-times champion .

"Well, he won't even know I'm there," said Appleby, who stands at two-over-par 218. "I'm sure I'll know he's there."

Appleby, who has won eight PGA tournaments and nearly $19 million in career earnings, is looking for his first major championship. In 40 starts in the majors, he has just three top 10 finishes -- none of them at the Masters.

Treacherous conditions at cold, windy Augusta National have led to the highest sets of Masters scores in 51 years, and the first time Woods has ever posted three successive over-par scores in a Masters.

Appleby, however, did not consider the weather a leveller against Woods, winner of 12 majors -- second only to the 18 amassed by Jack Nicklaus.

"Look, Tiger has always got an advantage," he told reporters. "It's quite obvious. He has more experience that what's left of this field put together.

"Shot supremacy is certainly there. Emotionally, mentally he's a tough competitor. He knows how to beat the golf course and he always has.

"He's not worried about what everybody else is doing."

Appleby was doing great on Saturday, posting three birdies in a row from the second hole and leading by two shots over a field struggling against going backwards.

Then came the 17th, which Appleby described as "a comedy of errors" that led to a triple-bogey seven at the 440-yard hole.

He pulled his tee shot left and the ball rattled off some branches and dropped into a bunker on the seventh fairway. He hit a nine-iron thin out of the trap into some pine cones. A wedge shot found the front bunker, and he three-putted from 12 feet to go from one-under to two over par.

"Stuff like that happens. That's golf. That's Augusta," he said.

Appleby felt good overall about his round of one-over 73, which also featured nine pars in a row.

"It was a real fight out there today. It's just so demanding. There are just so many things that can go wrong with bogeys around the corner constantly and the course ready to slap you in the head if you did something wrong."

Appleby said he would try to stay relaxed, have fun and not think about the uphill task of beating Woods head-to-head.

"What would you like me to say?" he answered when asked how he had fared in past casual rounds with Woods.

"That I cleaned up on him all the time, that I out-hit him on the practice range? I can beat him, I can hit it past him? No, no, and no," he said with a comic touch.