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 He will take a three shot lead over Stephen Ames into Sunday's fourth and final round as he closes in on his 13th Major title and his first of the year.

 Ames played a one under-under 69 round to go four under and earn the right to play alongside Woods in the final round on Sunday.

 The Canadian admitted that it would be very difficult to win the tournament. "Woods is a tough cookie to catch. But it was nice to break par again. It makes no difference to be playing against Woods, I will play my game."

   Lying a shot behind on three-under is Woody Austin, who played a 69 on the day and said afterwards that he felt he still had a chance. "I have my first legitimate chance to win a Major, so I am very happy.

 "It is brutal out there, but I will go and try my best."

   He admitted that he had been nervous going into the third round. "That is why my driving was erratic. I am sure I will be nervous on Sunday, but I showed today that I can get through that."

   The day though, once again belonged to Woods, who went into the third round playing with Scott Verplank, who was lying two shots behind him and for the opening 11 holes the two ran close as Woods managed just one birdie and 10 pars.

 Disaster struck for the Oklahoma-based local favourite Verplank at the 12th though as he hit his first shot into the rough. He aggressively went for the flag with his second, but had too little control coming out of the deep grass and went into a set of trees on his left.

 Trying to get out of the trees onto the green, Verplank hit his third ball into one of the trees and then finally got out of trouble with his fourth ball, but was still not on the green and needed a further two shots to finish the hole with a double-bogey.

 Woods, meanwhile, had played his second so close to the flag that all he had to do while Verplank was getting himself deeper into trouble, was plan his birdie, which he achieved without any trouble for a three-shot swing.

 Woods, who came agonizingly close to setting a record for the lowest round-ever in a Major on Friday when his birdie putt at the 18th somehow stayed out of the hole, preventing him from playing a round of 62, had just one blemish on his score-card on Saturday as he bogeyed the par-three 14th after pulling his tee shot into the bunker.

 The 31-year-old said that the round had gone as planned. "I was hoping to break par and increase the lead. I did that. The idea was not to make any bogeys and even though I made one I was happy.

 "Consistency has been my strength throughout the week," he said.

 American John Senden, who played a 69 on Saturday is two-under 208 for the tournament, while Ernie Els is the only other player under par, on 209.

 South African Els finished the day with a round of 69 that included five birdies.

 He said that he had made just too many mistakes to be in contention. "I made a lot of mistakes, but did a lot of good things. It was almost fun on the back nine as I played well. The mistakes on the first nine I put down to the tough course.

 "You feel you are leaving shots out there. Tiger Woods does not do that and that is why I am so many shots behind," he said.

 Earlier Saturday Sergio Garcia was disqualified from the tournament after signing a wrong score card.

 Garcia, who was out of contention after the first two rounds, signed the card on which his playing partner Boo Weekley had written down a par four for him at the 17th, when in fact he played a bogey.

 Weekley said he noticed the mistake and tried to call Garcia back to the scoring tent. "It's my fault for putting the wrong score in, but it's his fault for not checking. I just said: Sergio, I put a four but in fact you had a five."

   Weekley said that Garcia had replied: "That just puts the icing on the cake."

   Garcia would have scored a 74 on the day to be nine over for the tournament, but was disqualified as officials said that once he had left the scoring tent, the mistake could no longer be rectified.

 Weekley, who carded a five-under 65 on the day to go to level par for the tournament, was one of two players who made the early charge on Saturday as players were attempting to catch Woods who had a two shot lead going into the third round.

 South African Trevor Immelman played an excellent round scoring a four-under 66 to move into contention for a top ten finish with a one-over for the tournament.

DPA