July 24, 2006	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 27, 1427

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HOYLAKE (England), July 23: A grinding Tiger Woods shrugged off a cold putter to retain his one-stroke lead and repel the challenges of Sergio Garcia, Chris DiMarco and Ernie Els in the British Open third round on Saturday.

Champion Woods, one ahead overnight landed five birdies but three three-putts on the back nine contributed to four bogeys in a one-under 71 for a 13-under aggregate of 203.

A turbo-charged Garcia produced the best performance of the day as his seven-under 65 tied the course record for the revamped Hoylake layout and earned a last-group pairing with world number one Woods on Sunday.

The 26-year-old Spaniard shared second place with American DiMarco (69) and 2002 winner Els (71).

A further shot adrift on 205 were Angel Cabrera of Argentina and Jim Furyk of the US, while Hideto Tanihara of Japan was alone on 10-under after all three returned 66s.

Woods missed a succession of putts, including a five-footer for par at the 14th where he had holed his approach for an eagle two on Friday.

The 10-times major winner then nudged back into the lead when he sank a three-footer for a birdie at the last.The 30-year-old American has won all 10 times he has led a major going into the final round.

Garcia, yet to deliver on the promise he showed as a youth and seeking his first major triumph, came within a stroke of the lowest nine holes in British Open history when he raced to the turn in only 29 shots.

He started in spectacular fashion, holing a nine-iron approach shot from 167 yards for an eagle two at the second before reeling off birdies at the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth.

Briton Denis Durnian returned an outward half of 28 at Royal Birkdale in 1983.

But, as the skies turned grey and a gentle breeze developed, Garcia registered eight successive pars on the back nine before completing his round with another birdie at the last.

DiMarco looked as though he was sliding out of contention when he dropped strokes at the seventh and ninth.

He hit back, though, with an inspired birdie hat-trick from the 11th and another birdie at the 16th.

Cabrera, bidding to emulate the victory by compatriot Roberto de Vicenzo, last time the event was held at Hoylake 39 years ago, came back in 32 with four birdies and an eagle to shoot a 66.

Earlier, the tournament burst into life with several stunning strokes all round the course.

Greg Owen of Britain (208) sunk a massive 60-foot birdie putt at the 11th while Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant (213) replicated Garcia's feat by holing his second shot for another eagle at the second.

Australian John Senden recorded the second hole-in-one of the week when he aced the 198-yard, par-three 13th with a six-iron on his way to a one-over 73 for 216.

Third round scores:

203 – Tiger Woods (US) 67, 65, 71.

204 – Sergio Garcia (Spain) 68, 71, 65; Chris DiMarco (US) 70, 65, 69; Ernie Els (South Africa) 68, 65, 71.

205 – Jim Furyk (US) 68, 71, 66; Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 71, 68, 66.206 – Hideto Tanihara (Japan) 72, 68, 66.

207 – Mark Calcavecchia (US) 71, 68, 68; Adam Scott (Australia) 68, 69, 70.208 – Andres Romero (Argentina) 70, 70, 68; Greg Owen (Britain) 67, 73, 68; Peter Lonard (Australia) 71, 69, 68; Robert Allenby (Australia) 69, 70, 69; Jerry Kelly (US) 72, 67, 69; Retief Goosen (South Africa) 70, 66, 72.

210 – Scott Verplank (US) 70, 73, 67; Simon Khan (Britain) 70, 72, 68; S.K. Ho (South Korea) 68, 73, 69; Tim Clark (South Africa) 72, 69, 69; Keiichiro Fukabori (Japan) 67, 73, 70; Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 68, 72, 70; Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 71, 69, 70; Ben Crane (US) 68, 71, 71; Mikko Ilonen (Finland) 68, 69, 73.

211 – Andrew Marshall (Britain) 72, 71, 68; Hunter Mahan (US) 73, 70, 68; Jeff Sluman (US) 71, 72, 68; Anthony Wall (Britain) 67, 73, 71; Marcus Fraser (Australia) 68, 71, 72; Brett Rumford (Australia) 68, 71, 72; Graeme McDowell (Britain) 66, 73, 72; Robert Rock (Britain) 69, 69, 73.

212 – John Bickerton (Britain) 72, 70, 70; Lee Slattery (Britain) 69, 72, 71; Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 70, 71, 71; Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 74, 66, 72; Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 70, 69, 73; Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 69, 70, 73.

213 – Simon Wakefield (Britain) 72, 71, 70; Simon Dyson (Britain) 74, 69, 70; Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 71, 71, 71; Andrew Buckle (Australia) 72, 69, 72; Stephen Ames (Canada) 70, 71, 72; Phil Mickelson (US) 69, 71, 73; Mike Weir (Canada) 68, 72, 73; Thaworn Wiratchant (Thailand) 71, 68, 74; Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 67, 70, 76.214 – Sean O'Hair (US) 69, 73, 72; Rod Pampling (Australia) 69, 71, 74; Mark Hensby (Australia) 68, 72, 74.

215 – Paul Broadhurst (Britain) 71, 71, 73; Luke Donald (Britain) 74, 68, 73; Brandt Jobe (US) 69, 71, 75.

216 – John Senden (Australia) 70, 73, 73; Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 72, 71, 73; Lee Westwood (Britain) 69, 72, 75; Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 70, 71, 75.

217 – Todd Hamilton (US) 72, 71, 74; Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 72, 71, 74; Chad Campbell (US) 70, 73, 74; Tom Watson (US) 72, 70, 75; Marius Thorp (Norway) 71, 71, 75; Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 73, 68, 76.

218 – Fred Funk (US) 69, 74, 75; Mark O'Meara (US) 71, 70, 77; David Duval (US) 70, 70, 78.

220 – Vaughn Taylor (US) 72, 71, 77; Bart Bryant (US) 69, 74, 77; Edoardo Molinari (Italy) 73, 70, 77.

221 – Paul Casey (Britain) 72, 70, 79; Marco Ruiz (Paraguay) 71, 70, 80—Reuters