The Tiger Woods juggernaut rolled on at the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Saturday as he built a four-shot lead going into the final round.
Tiger Woods: Smiling at the front
Starting the day on the Blue Monster at Doral two strokes ahead of the chasing pack, the world number two carded a five-under-par 67 to double his lead and finish with an 18 under 198.
Woods fired seven birdies, the last a 16-foot birdie putt on the 18th, while the only blemishes on his card came through bogeys on the fifth and the 17th.
His 24 birdies over the first three rounds is a personal best for any PGA event since he joined the US Tour in 1996 and it puts him on course for his 17th career World Golf Championship title and 76th PGA Tour victory in total.
Not only was he powerful and mostly accurate off the tee, but he as impressive with the short irons.
"I'm hitting the ball further and it is just about adjustments," said the American. "I had to re-establish the new numbers and new feels and it took a little bit of time and I worked on it. It is starting to pay off."
He added: "Tomorrow is supposed to be tougher. The wind is supposed to be tougher. And these greens are baked out. It's hard to hold them."
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell finished the day on 69 after carding two eagles in the same round for the first time in his career. He started with one on the first hole and followed it up with a birdie on the third to turn at four under.
After bogeys on the 11th and a double on the 14th, another eagle on the par-four 16th helped to restore some of his confidence.
"Tiger was a tough guy. He played great," he said. "I'm glad I gave myself a chance tomorrow."
Phil Mickelson and Steve Stricker equalled McDowell's score for the third round to find themselves five shots off the pace while Sergio Garcia, Michael Thompson, Charl Schwartzel and Keegan Bradley are a further shot behind.
"I'm going to have to play a really incredible round on Sunday but I really don't have to play that different than I played today," said Mickelson. "I threw away five or six shots on and around the greens. I just can't afford to give
away those shots."
World number one Rory McIlroy is 15 shots behind Woods and tied for 30th place after a one-under-par 71 that included six birdies and bogeys at the par-4 third, a double bogey at the par-3 fourth while he also dropped shots on the first and last holes on the back nine.
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