Garcia understands a lot about golf -- and his chance of catching Woods

He also knows a lot about Tiger Woods and his chances of catching him in the final round of the PGA Championship.

"If he plays like he played today, maybe we'll have to look for second place," Garcia said. "It's nice to be following Tiger. The bad part is I know it's going to be very difficult to catch him."

Garcia and everyone else but Mike Weir found that out Saturday when Woods seized control of the season's final major on the front nine and only Weir decided to go along for the ride.

Not that Garcia played shabby - he matched 4-under 68s with Woods - but still found himself two strokes out of the lead going into the final day and out of the final pairing with Woods he had been hoping for.

Garcia may not know the imposing statistic that Woods has won the last seven tournaments he has led after three rounds, but he does know the golfer.

"I was thinking about playing with Tiger. I was doing my best, but I couldn't catch him. It was impossible," Garcia said. "It looked like I make a birdie and he goes behind me with another one."

On an afternoon when the sun finally broke through to soak the fairways of Medinah Country Club, Garcia rebounded from a second-round 73 to put himself at 9 under and in a tie for third with Stewart Cink.

The two will play in the next-to-last twosome Sunday, just in front of Woods and Weir, the Canadian lefty with the quirky shot routine.

"I didn't think that shooting 4 under I'd be that far from the lead," said Garcia, who admitted to keeping an eye on leaderboards scattered across the course to see how Woods was doing.

It's a heady experience for the young Spanish phenom, who won the Irish Open on the European Tour after turning pro following the Masters but crashed at the British Open when he shot 89-83 and missed the cut.

"I know it's a major, but I'm taking it as another tournament," said Garcia, who held the lead after a 66 in the opening round. "But if I win it, it will be better than another tournament."

Cink and Garcia, who between them have only one PGA Tour win, both shot 68s, while second-round leader Jay Haas faded with a 75 that put him in a group of four, five shots back at 6 under.

Among them are two-time PGA champion Nick Price, who is 23 years older than Garcia but had much the same viewpoint about Woods.

"There aren't very many courses that don't suit Tiger's game. But this one more than others because there's not much run on the ball," Price said. "That makes it tough for the rest of us."

Price's 69 was his third consecutive sub-par round, giving him some hope that he might be able to regain the form that saw him win this tournament in 1992 and 1994.

Still, he conceded, five shots might be a bit much to make up against Woods, who made only two bogeys in his last two rounds.

"If he drives the ball well tomorrow, I think we're going to have a tough time catching him because he's obviously very focused," Price said. "I think he's been complaining about how poorly he's putting or how he's not making as many putts as he'd like to. He'll be saying the same things in 24 years time."

About the only player not conceding to Woods was Weir, who was leading the tournament for a brief while on the front nine Saturday before Woods birdied three consecutive holes.

Weir has some experience playing in the final group - he had done it three times this year, including last month's Western Open in which he and Woods played together and Woods won.

"Tiger is the best player in the world and I lost my tour card last year, so if you told me at the beginning of the year that I'd be in this situation, I'd say no way," Weir said. "I'm definitely the underdog. So I don't have anything to lose tomorrow."

AP