Tiger Woods began Saturday with a share of the lead at the Wyndham Championship and after a third round 68 he's still lurking near the top of the leaderboard at -13, two behind the leader Jason Gore.
The scoring conditions at Sedgefield Country Club on Saturday were ideal, as they have been all week, and Woods has to feel like he left some birdies on the course considering Gore and Jonas Blixt both posted 62's on Saturday.
Tiger continued to drive the ball exceptionally well on Saturday. He hit 11-of-14 fairways and it wasn't just laying up with irons that kept him in play as he hit his driver extremely well -- including a 350-yard bomb on the 18th.
Woods took advantage of good positioning off the tee, hitting 13-of-18 greens. He missed a few quality looks at birdie that could have put him in the lead by himself, including a few cruel lip outs.
While his speed control on long putts left something to be desired, his putting inside 10 feet was excellent to salvage pars when he got a overly aggressive on birdie putts.
Woods made his lone bogey of the day on No. 18 after running a long birdie attempt seven feet past the hole and then had his par attempt do a lap around the hole before lipping out.
Woods needs a win to ensure his spot in the FedEx Cup Playoffs -- a solo second could put him in, but he'd still need help -- and that late bogey could prove costly. Tiger will be two back of Gore entering Sunday, and in his career, he's won just 6-of-20 times he's been two shots back after 54 holes. When Woods has been just one back entering Sunday, he's won 9-of-12 times.
The good news for golf fans, is he's actually in contention and we get to break out a stat about Woods possibly winning a tournament rather than a stat about him missing cuts.
Watching Woods on Saturday -- and really for the last three days -- has been at times reminiscent of the old Tiger. The confidence in his swing is clearly coming around and it shows in how he's attacking the ball.
He's hitting stingers off the tee with his three iron, pounding drivers, offering up vintage club twirls and even a fist pump after a clutch par putt.
Pars are big. So was this fist pump. Tiger remains tied for the lead. pic.twitter.com/dinaYaP5te
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 22, 2015
Woods' swagger on the course is coming back and that, as much as his scoring, is a sign that he's much more comfortable with his swing. That comfort is paying dividends in scoring and consistency -- something he's struggled mightily with recently -- this week.
Tiger didn't have his full A-game on Saturday and might have missed an opportunity to go low with conditions the way they were, but he was still able to post an under-par round for the third straight day.
As someone who's on the record as being skeptical about this particular swing change, this week is starting to make me more of a believer in Woods moving forward. Tiger's got a look to him this week we haven't seen in a long time, and on Sunday he's going to be squarely in the hunt at a PGA Tour event for the first time all season.
