HAMBURG, Germany, May 17 (UPI) -- Padraig Harrington maintained his lead in the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open Saturday while Tiger Woods fell out of contention.
Woods virtually gave up on his quest for a third straight victory in this tournament after a 2-under-par 70 in the third round put him in a tie for 38th place.
At 6-under-par 210 overall, Woods was nine shots behind Harrington, whose own 2-under 70 will send him into the final round two strokes ahead of Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell.
Harrington was bogey-free as he built a three-stroke halfway lead, but he went into the lake at the long third.
However, it was the last mistake he made as he tries to make up for the disappointment of last week's event at The Belfry. Four shots ahead after 34 holes there, he lost by four to Englishman Paul Casey.
"I fell asleep a couple of times and at the third I got my just desserts," Harrington said. "I was going to go for the green, then I decided to lay up and I didn't give it any attention.
"It's something I do occasionally over a boring shot. I lose focus and it's something I need to work on."
Woods has won this event three times in his last four visits and has never finished lower than third over that span, but he has a different task on his hands Sunday -- trying to avoid his worst finish in a tournament in more than four years.
Asked whether he still had a chance of winning the title again Woods, who five years ago came from eight back to beat Ernie Els, said, "Probably not. The way things are going, there are too many guys ahead of me."
Woods has not finished outside the top 40 in any event since he was tied for 56th in the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational.
"I drove it poorly and consequently didn't play the par fives well," Woods said. "And again I didn't make any putts. It's frustrating because I'm hitting good putts. But that's just the way it is here. I've just not got anything going."
Woods, making his first appearance since finishing 15th at the Masters over a month ago, plans only one more appearance before he defends the U.S. Open in Illinois in June.
McDowell won the Scandinavian Masters last August in only the fourth event of his professional career, but has not had a top-10 finish since.
"I had achieved my goals by winning and I lost my desire for a while," he said. "I couldn't wait for the season to end so I could reset my targets starting from zero. It's a mistake I will learn from."
South African Retief Goosen (70) and Denmark's Mads Vibe-Hastrup (66) shared third place at 12-under, three shots behind. One stroke further back were Casey, Scots Paul Lawrie and Andrew Coltart, Swede Niclas Fasth, and Anthony Wall and Darren Clarke of Britain.
