THOUSAND OAKS (California), Dec 16: Fiji’s Vijay Singh looked comfortable in decidedly inhospitable conditions Saturday to build a four-shot lead over Tiger Woods in the Williams World Challenge post-season golf tournament.

Only three of the 18 players in the field broke par at Sherwood Country Club, thanks to cold conditions and blustery wind on the California coast.

Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn already had done that, shooting an 80 on Friday. He began the third round at nine-over 153 — seven shots behind his nearest competitor — before bouncing back to tie the tournament-record with a bogey-free 64.

Singh played the front nine in one-over but still had a one-shot lead over Woods and Fred Couples. He sank an eagle from 52 yards with a lob wedge at the 385-yard 10th hole and added a birdie at the 11th for a four-shot lead.

With the wind swirling over 7,025-yard layout, Singh took bogeys at the 14th and 15th holes as his lead over Woods shrank to two strokes.

With Woods and Couples faltering badly, Singh added to his lead over the last three holes, parring 16 and 18 around a birdie at the 17th.

Woods would love to win his own tournament, and appeared closer before double-bogeying the par-three 17th. He is alone in second at seven-under 209.

Woods had birdied four of the previous six holes to get within a shot of Singh. But he also bogeyed the third, 10th and 15th and blamed the wind afterward.

Third-round scores:

205 - Vijay Singh (Fij) 68-66-71

209 - Tiger Woods 68-67-74

211 - Bernhard Langer (Ger) 69-68-74

212 - Scott Hoch 70-70-72

213 - Lee Westwood (Gbr) 71-72-70, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 73-65-75

214 - David Duval 72-70-72, David Toms 71-68-75, Fred Couples 66-71-77

215 - Mark O’Meara 66-74-75

216 - Jim Furyk 74-70-72

217 - Colin Montgomerie (Gbr) 73-68-76, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73-80-64.—AFP