ORLANDO, Fla., March 16 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods missed a chance to run away from the field at the Bay Hill Invitational Saturday and although he still had the lead, there were 14 players within three shots of him with one round to play.
Woods began the third round Saturday with a four-shot advantage and suffered through a series of poor tee shots as well as a balky putter to shoot a 2-over 74.
That left him at 10-under 206, one shot ahead of Len Mattiace and two ahead of Michael Campbell, Chad Campbell, Pat Perez, John Houston and Scott McCarron.
The star-laden group three shots out of the lead included Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Sergio Garcia, Jose Maria Olazabal, Scott Hoch, Ernie Els and John Daly. Els is seeknig his third consecutive victory.
"Obviously, I didn't play too well today," Woods said. "It was pretty ugly. But I still have the lead, which is good."
Woods bogeyed the opening hole and then bogeyed three out of four beginning at the seventh.
McCarron, who began the day in second place, caught Woods by the eighth hole and they remained tied all the way to the 16th tee. But McCarron bogeyed both the 16th and 17th to slip back. Daly also had a brief share of the lead in an up-and-down round of 71.
"I had a good warmup session on the range," said Woods, who is trying to win this tournament for the third straight year. "I hit some good shots early, but then I began to feel uncomfortable and it got worse.
"I'm really happy to still be in the lead. I know what I'm doing wrong. It's just a matter of stopping it. I'll have to shoot a good round tomorrow. It will take something under par to win."
Woods has not won on the PGA Tour since last August as he seeks his 30th career victory.
