Charlotte (North Carolina), May 10: Tiger Woods has won the past 18 times that he has held the lead at the halfway point on the PGA Tour. He faces a formidable challenge to make it 19 of 19.
Woods struggled badly off the tee in the third round of the PGA Wachovia Championship Saturday, shooting a 3-over-par 75 to plunge five shots behind leader Arron Oberholser with one round left.
Even though Woods, who by his own high standards has struggled the past two months, led after 36 holes, there was a suspicion that this wasn't the invincible player of old.
"I just didn't have it," Woods admitted. "I just didn't swing the club well. I didn't feel comfortable, and on a course this demanding, it's tough."
Just a quick look at his statistics indicated that he owed his lead more to a hot putter than to brilliant ball-striking.



But few dared to think he might struggle so mightily with the driver, as he hit just six of 14 fairways.



Worse still, he missed four times left and four times right, a pro's worst nightmare because he doesn't know what compensations to make.



There were still flashes of brilliance, including at the 345-yard par-4 14th, where he drove the green, the only player all day to do so.



Woods headed to the range, vowing he would at least find a band aid that would allow him to restrict his misses to one side yesterday, rather than playing left, right, left, right army golf.



While Woods was far from ready to concede defeat, he will have to find something special to get out of jail this time.



He seems to be floundering in a sea of confusion these days, but is still even within sniffing distance of the lead.



"I fought my rear-end off just to make pars," he said. "I think I'd be a pretty good 5 or 6-handicapper."


Bureau Report