Anirban Lahiri blazes on front but nine halts on back stretch; Woods excels at seventh

Twitter@thefield_in

Dublin (US): It was a tale of two nines for Indian golfer Anirban Lahiri as he shot five-under on the front nine before slumping to 2-over 38 for a 3-under 69 that still moved him 14 places up at the Memorial Tournament here. 

Lahiri is now T-21 at 7-under.

India's other challenger this week, Shubhankar Sharma had earlier missed the cut.

Bryson DeChambeau fired a 6-under 66 that included birdies on two of the toughest holes to take a one-shot lead going into a final round. 

DeChambeau missed two short putts but was still 14-under 202. He missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole, and then missed a birdie putt from 4 feet on the par-5 15th.

But once again the focus was on Tiger Woods (68) who is in frame at Muirfield Village for the first time in six years. 

At 9-under, he was 5-behind, but his form was brilliant despite his putting let him down again. 

Asked if he was ready win, Woods said, "Well, I was at 11-under par, and I had wasted a bunch of shots the last two days and I was 4-over par in the first round, so you do the math."

Lahiri was on fire on the front nine. He opened birdie-birdie with the second one coming from 80 feet and off the green. After missing putts from 10 feet and 14 feet on next two holes, he birdied fifth with a nice first putt from over 50 feet. 

A bogey on sixth after finding the fairway halted him. Yet he went on a birdie spree on seventh, eighth and ninth, the last one from almost 20 feet.

After six birdies against one bogey on front nine, Lahiri went into right rough on 10th and made bogey and on 11th he went into water. He again missed the fairway on 17th and ended with a bogey, but made pars on 16th and 18th, the two toughest holes on the course.

DeChambeau led over Kyle Stanley (70), who bogeyed the 18th hole from the bunker. 

Patrick Cantlay, who drove into the creek left of the 18th fairway for a bogey and a 66 and Joaquin Niemann, the 19-year-old Chilean who while trying for a second eagle of the day, went into the creek at 15th hole though he birdie 18th for 70. 

Cantlay made two eagles, including a hole-in-one on the par-3 eighth.

Byeong Hun An played bogey-free for a 69 and was two shots behind in fifth, while Justin Rose (69) dropped two shots over the last three holes and was four back at sixth. 

Rose has a chance to reach No. 1 in the world with a runner-up finish, depending on what Justin Thomas (68), currently T-21, does later.

Woods played the last five holes of the front nine in 5-under, starting with his second eagle of the week.

He was cold once again on the back nine, just as he was in second round. His next birdie came on the par-5 15th with a sharp-breaking 15-footer. At that stage he was tied for the lead.

On Par-3 16th, Woods stroked his 45-foot birdie putt past by 7 feet missed it coming back. He followed that by missing a 3-foot par putt.

With Muirfield Village expecting more thunderstorms, the final round will be threesomes teeing off earlier than usual to account for the forecast.