Tiger Woods walks past fans on his way to the 15th green at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club during the third round of the Tour Championship on Saturday. Woods shot a 5-under-par 65 and held a three-stroke lead entering the final round.ATLANTA - Tiger Woods made it look and sound as if he had never been gone.
More than turning back time, every hole seemed like the one before Saturday at the Tour Championship. A tee shot striped down the middle of the fairway. The clean strike of an iron as he held his pose. A sonic boom of the cheers from around the green. Another birdie.
"I got off to an ideal start," Woods said. "And the next thing you know, I was off and running."
With the most dynamic golf he has played all year, Woods built a five-shot lead in seven holes before he cooled from there, shooting a 5-under-par 65 that gave him a three-shot lead over Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose and an ideal chance to end this comeback season by doing what that has defined his career.
Winning.
Woods, who was at 12-under 198 overall at East Lake Golf Club, has the 54-hole lead for the first time since his most recent victory at the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational. He has never lost an official tournament when leading by more than two shots going into the final round, and his closing record with the lead is 42-2 on the PGA Tour.
The 14-time major winner has never been in better position to show he's all the way back from four back surgeries that once made him fear he might never play again.
"I've gone through a lot this year to get myself to this point, and understanding and fighting my way through it," Woods, 42, said. "I'm certainly much more equipped than I was in March because of what I've gone through."
McIlroy, who birdied two of his last three holes for a 66, will be in a final-group pairing with Woods on the PGA Tour for the first time.
"It's obviously exciting for the golf tournament. It's exciting for golf in general that he's up there," McIlroy said. "But for me, all I can do is concentrate on myself. The game is hard enough without looking at other people. Go out there, take care of my business, and hopefully that's good enough."
Rose, No. 1 in the World Golf Ranking, started the third round tied with Woods. It didn't last long. Rose opened with two straight bogeys before battling back, but he was four shots behind after four holes. He narrowed the gap with a birdie on the 16th as Woods scrambled for a bogey.
"In some ways, it felt like a Sunday just with the energy," Rose said. "But I knew that it was halfway through a Saturday. Just wanted to sort of chisel a few back and give myself a chance going into tomorrow."
There used to be no chance against Woods when he was atop the leaderboard going into the final round. His only PGA Tour losses with the 54-hole lead are the 1996 Quad City Classic, when he was 20 and making third start as a pro, and the 2009 PGA Championship, when Y.E. Yang prevailed. Woods also lost a two-shot lead to Lee Westwood at a European Tour event in 2000.
Now? Woods has gone more than five years without winning. He also has won enough times - 90 tournaments around the world - to remember how.
Woods has had four finishes in the top five, two of them as runner-up. Only once this year, however, has he started the final round within closer than four shots of the lead. Being up by three is a much better view.
"Simple math says that if I play a clean card, the guys behind me have to shoot 67 to force it into extra holes," Woods said. "That helps. I don't have to shoot 63 or 64 and hope I get help. This is a spot I'd much rather be in than four or five back."
UGA alum leads
ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. - Sepp Straka moved into position to earn a PGA Tour card at the Web.com Tour Championship, shooting a 7-under 64 to take the third-round lead.
With the top 25 earners in the four-event Web.com Tour Finals securing PGA Tour cards Sunday, the former University of Georgia golfer birdied the final three holes to reach 18-under 195 - a stroke ahead of Lucas Glover (68), Curtis Luck (64) and Denny McCarthy (67) at Atlantic Beach Country Club.
Straka, a 25-year-old native of Austria, entered the week tied for 80th in the card race with $2,744. He finished 31st on the regular-season earnings list to advance to the postseason. Entering the finale, Glover was 40th, Lucas 16th and McCarthy 11th in the standings.
Chattanooga's Stephan Jaeger (70) was tied for 28th in the tournament at 10 under.
Tied at the top
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Brandt Jobe and Steve Stricker topped the Sanford International leaderboard again after another cool and breezy day at the PGA Tour Champions event.
After matching David McKenzie and Jerry Smith with first-round 7-under 63s, Jobe and Stricker each shot a 67 to get to 10-under 130 at Minnehaha Country Club. Jobe made an 18-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th, and Stricker missed a six-footer to leave them tied.
Smith was a stroke back after a 68, Scott McCarron (68) was fourth at 8 under and Woody Austin (64) was fifth at 7 under. McKenzie (77) was tied for 43rd at par.
Low in Portugal
VILAMOURA, Portugal - Tom Lewis came within two shots of tying Oliver Fisher's European Tour record on another day of low scoring at the Portugal Masters.
Lewis carded a 10-under 61 in the third round, just 24 hours after his fellow Englishman turned in the circuit's first 59. Lewis moved to two strokes behind the leader, Australia's Lucas Herbert (64), who was at 19-under 194.
Tied for third at 15 under were Marcus Kinhult (65) and Eddie Pepperell (68).
Fisher took 10 more strokes than he did Friday and was tied for fifth at 14 under, alongside Mikko Korhonen (64) and Renato Paratore (67).