The 32-year-old Japanese Tour regular kept control as those around him collapsed to shoot a three-over-par 73 for a level-par total of 210.

He holds a two shot lead over twice runner-up Jesper Parnevik of Sweden and Americans Jim Furyk and Mark O'Meara, the Masters champion, who all shot 72.

English teenaged amateur Justin Rose continued his dream tournament with a 75 to finish another stroke back in fifth place.

Tiger Woods took 77 but said that in joint sixth place, five behind, he still had a chance, although Saturday's conditions "tended to beat you up a little bit."

"Putting was the hardest part. The wind was howling and would blow you over just as you were putting or blow the putts off line," said Woods, who missed three putts of between three and six feet.

He ended the day was level with compatriots Brad Faxon and John Huston and with Thomas Bjorn of Denmark.

Former champion Nick Price skyrocketed to 82, dropping nine shots on the back nine and said he could not remember ever having such a bad score as a professional.

There was not a round under par on the day, the best scores of level-par 70 for the 7,018-yard Royal Birkdale course coming from Italian Costantino Rocca and Katsuyoshi Tomori of Japan.

There were 23 rounds in the 80s, including an 82 for holder Justin Leonard and 85 by U.S. lefthander Phil Mickelson. Leonard, Price and Mickelson are world-ranked eighth, ninth and 11th.

But Watts, forced to play in Japan after failing to get his card in the States, kept his concentration superbly to battle through.

"I'm exhausted. It was a very tough day with the wind even if it was not quite as strong on the back nine," said Watts.

"I've never been in the last group in any major championship or in a situation like this before," he added.

Watts felt his golf was distinctly ordinary for 12 holes and better for the last six.

"I did nothing special for 12 holes when I was five over but the last six holes turned a not-so-good round into a respectable one."

Watts, who led by a shot after two rounds, bogeyed the first, sixth and seventh holes, two of them on missed par putts of seven feet, then he missed from six feet at the 11th and three-putted the 12th.

But a stroke of luck at 13 was the turning point, a six-iron second bouncing perfectly and rolling up to two feet for a tap-in birdie.

That coincided with others around him messing up and when he also birdied the long and easy 17th - the only hole on the course where players averaged less than par - he was suddenly in the clear.

Parnevik, second to Price at Turnberry in 1994 and to Justin Leonard at Royal Troon last year, is pleased to have a third chance.

"At Turnberry I did not expect to win because I was so nervous my goal was to break 90, while at Troon I really thought I would win teeing off on Sunday but Justin played a marvellous round of 65.

"It was disappointing for a few days, so I am very pleased to have been given another chance to win it," he said.

Furyk, a 28-year-old with a swing said to be like an octopus in a phone booth, said he kept telling himself to be patient in the difficult conditions.

"I have a chance to win my first major. I'm excited," he said.

O'Meara's round hinged on a good break at the hard sixth hole where he hit his second shot into the right rough and could not find it after three minutes.

He began to walk back to hit another when a spectator said he had found it and put it in his pocket.

O'Meara was then given a free drop under the "outside agency" rule and made a bogey five. "It could have been a seven or an eight," he said.

Woods, the world number one and 1997 Masters champion, still likes his chances, especially if the conditions stay tough.

"The easiest conditions to make up shots would be the difficult ones," he said.

"If you can make a lot of pars and let he guys come back to you, a lot of strange things can happen."

For 17-year-old Rose the dream continues and only a dropped shot at the last took him out of the pack two behind the leader.

The 500-1 amateur had fantastic support all the way round and showed remarkable composure after bogeying the first two holes of the day.

Completed Third Round Scores