Tiger Woods says he is playing the best golf of his life. He's also in his favorite spot on the leaderboard.

"I love when people have to come get me," Woods said today after a 2-under 70 gave him a two-shot lead over Vijay Singh with David Duval another three strokes back after three rounds of the Memorial Tournament. "I love to feel that intensity, that fight."

Woods entered the third round with a one-stroke lead over Singh and Lee Janzen, but birdies at Nos. 4 and 5 -- along with bogeys by his closest pursuers -- pushed the lead to four shots.

Singh, the reigning PGA Championship winner, picked up two birdies over the next five holes, however, and almost caught Woods on the 12th.

Woods flew the green on the 160-yard, par-3 signature hole, landing in a large trap behind the narrow green while Singh's tee shot came to rest 5 feet from the cup.

Woods blasted 6 feet past the hole and missed the par putt, but Singh's birdie putt for a tie rolled off the right edge as he settled for par.

Even had Singh pulled even, Woods said he wouldn't have been rattled.

"We had a lot of holes left. So many holes," he said. "We still had a lot of birdie holes and bogey holes coming up, holes where if you get careless you make some mistakes.

"If you're near the lead and someone ties you, that's one thing on Saturday. But on the back nine on Sunday, that's a little different story. Then you have to sometimes react and go ahead and force him to make a mistake."

Still clinging to his one-shot lead, Woods got to 12-under and doubled his lead when he blasted out of a greenside bunker and hit a downhill 6-foot birdie putt at 15.

Both players parred out, although Woods lost an opportunity at the closing hole when he missed a 6-foot birdie putt and Singh salvaged par after an errant drive and a shot into the front bunker.

Woods, never higher than 51st in two previous Memorials, is at 12-under 204 after a 70. Singh, who won the Memorial two years ago, shot a 71 to get to 206. They will be paired again in the final round.

Since joining the PGA Tour, Woods has been the leader heading into the final round six times and ended up winning five times.

"Although Tiger was playing with me, I wasn't taking any notice of the scoring," Singh said. "You know, if he makes a lot of birdies -- or whoever makes a lot of birdies -- I can't do anything about it. I have to play my own game and that's what I did."

Woods said it is the players off the lead who have the most pressure in the final round. He said he'd rather play from in front.

"It's right where you want to be," Woods said. "You know it's going to take more effort for them to come get you than it is for you to just maintain par. They're going to have to go ahead and be more aggressive. The key for anyone who's leading is not to come back to them.''

With a slight but swirling wind and balmy temperatures in the mid-80s, the Muirfield Village Golf Club layout turned dry and fast and yielded few low scores.

Only six players broke 70, but seven had scores of 77 or higher. Fuzzy Zoeller shot an 82 and Janzen stumbled to a 78 -- falling 20 places from a tie for second and one shot back to tied for 22nd and nine behind.

"Everything I did was wrong," Janzen said. "I only missed three fairways, so it's not like I was in trouble. It seemed that every bad shot I hit I got penalized as severely as possible.''

The low scores of the day were 66s by Paul Azinger and Brian Watts.

Another two strokes behind Singh came journeyman pro Dennis Paulson, with a 69 that left him at 8-under 208.

Duval rolled in a treacherous 15-foot downhill putt on the last hole to save par for a 69. He is joined at 7-under by Mark Calcavecchia and Bill Glasson.

"I'm playing well," Duval said. "I'm hitting it pretty good, putting pretty good. I'm doing everything pretty good -- not great right now. But you know, if you do everything OK, you can manage."

Watts, Japan's Kaname Yokoo and 1991 Memorial winner Kenny Perry were at 6-under 210.

AP