ORLANDO (Florida), March 16: World No 1 Tiger Woods joined four opponents in first place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational after a four-under par round of 66 on Saturday.

Woods, looking for his ninth win in 10 tournaments, began the day seven shots off the lead but ended on six under-par with in-form Sean O’Hair, winner at Tampa Bay last week, who fired the best round of the tournament with his seven-under 63.

Bart Bryant produced his third consecutive two-under 68 to join the leading pack along with Bubba Watson and overnight leader and defending champion Vijay Singh.

Singh, who began the day on nine-under, had an eventful round with two bogeys and a double bogey inside his first seven holes but he recovered slightly to finish with a three-over 73.

The Fijian, who began the day on nine-under, had an eventful round with three bogeys and a double bogey inside his first eight holes but he recovered slightly to finish with a three-over 73 and a place at the top of the leaderboard.

But, once again, the outcome of this contest is in the hands of Woods.

A four-time winner, he had struggled with his putting on Friday, frequently ending short. But he was back to his clinical self with six birdies in difficult conditions with gusty winds, the highlights being two superb fairway shots for birdies on the tricky 15th and 16th, both par fours.

Leading third-round scores:

204 – Sean O’Hair (US) 72, 69, 63; Tiger Woods (US) 70, 68, 66; Bart Bryant (US) 68, 68, 68; Bubba Watson (US) 67, 69, 68; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 66, 65, 73.

205 – Hunter Mahan (US) 68, 72, 65.

206 – Nick Watney (US) 69, 67, 70; Tom Lehman (US) 66, 69, 71; Cliff Kresge (US) 67, 68, 71; Lee Westwood (Britain) 66, 68, 72; Ken Duke (US) 67, 67, 72.

207 – Tom Pernice Jr (US) 73, 66, 68; Brian Davis (Britain) 75, 64, 68; Vaughn Taylor (US) 68, 67, 72; Jim Furyk (US) 67, 67, 73; Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 68, 65, 74.

208 – Steve Marino (US) 75, 67, 66; Fredrik Jacobson (Sweden) 71, 70, 67; Dicky Pride (US) 71, 70, 67; Frank Lickliter II (US) 69, 71, 68; Brandt Snedeker (US) 70, 70, 68; Pat Perez (US) 73, 65, 70; Alex Cejka (Germany) 67, 70, 71; Chad Campbell (US) 68, 68, 72.—Reuters