Woods climbs board on the front nine
Woodland is tied with Jon Rahm (66) and Rickie Fowler (69).
The biggest buzz, as always, belonged to Woods.
Coming off a three-putt bogey on the fifth hole, Woods ran off three straight birdies to get in range, only to stall on the back nine like he has done so often this year. He hit a four-iron so pure on the par-S 17th hole that he immediately began walking off to it, and thousands of fans roared when it settled 20 feet from the hole for an eagle that could have brought him within one of the lead.
He missed. And then he missed the next from four feet for birdie and ended his day with 10 straight pars. Woods had to settle for a 66, and by the time everyone else came through the 17th hole, he slipped back to a tie for sixth, four shots out of the lead.
That's the same position he was in going into the final round of the British Open at Carnoustie, where he led briefly in the final before fading.
Now he gets another shot, and it most likely will take another round like Saturday.
"Not just myself, but every-one's going to have to shoot low rounds," Woods said. "Ifs soft, in gettable, and you can't just go out there and make a bunch of pare Koepka was at 12-under 198 and will play in the final group of a major for the first time. He won in the penultimate group at the US. Open each of the last two years.
He already burnished his rep-utation two months ago by winning a US. Open on two entirely different courses — one at Erin Hills with a record-tying score of I6 under par, the other at Shinnecock Hills where he survived to win at 1-over par.
He has only one other PGA Tour victory, one in Europe and two in Japan. But put him against the strongest fields and the biggest events, and he's a world-beater. This test figures to be different Bellerive is so soft that a charge can come from any-where.
"I've watched Tiger win It of these things hanging around a lot of the time," Scott said. "He ran away with a few, for sure, but he hung around for a lot And I would love to hang around tomorrow. And that might mean shooting 5-under again to hang around, but I would love to be in the mix coming down the stretch and have the chance to hole some putts to win."
Ten players were within four shots of the lead, which includes defending champion Justin Thomas (68), Jason Day (67) and Stewart Cinlc,the 2009 British Open champion who played with Woods and matched his 66.
"It's a pretty intense environment out there. It's fun," Cink said. "Hearing the crowd, and Tiger's performing great, it was like turning back the hands of the dock" As easy as it looks at times Bellerive can still bite at any moment
Jordan Spieth found that out on a hole that effectively ended his second bid for the career Grand Slam. From well right of the 12th fairway, he tied to hit through a pp and instead Car-omed off a tree and out-of-bounds, leading to triple bogey and falling back to 4 under for the tournament. He had to settle for a 69 and was eight shots behind, with 27 players in front of him.
No one paid more dearly than Woodland. Three shots behind at the turn, heand Kevin Kisner were in a front bunker. Wood-land went over the green onto a slope at the back of another bunker, and his next shot went through the green back into the first bunker. The sand hadyet to be raked, and Woodland's ball was in his footprints. He wound up with triple bogey, and scrambled to get back in the mix.
"Really confident going into tomorrow with the way I fought the last eight holes," he said. Koepka almost headed down that direction. He had to make an eight-foot par save on the 13th. He couldn't save par with a 100-foot bunker shot on the 14th after a poor drive, and his tee shot on the 15th settled be-hind a tree, forcing him to take relief with a penalty shot. He got up-and-down to escape with bogey. And as Woods was moving into position for a potential eagle, Koeplca made a10-foot par save on the 16th.
"To avoid making three bogeys in a row was wry big" he said.
Woods and Fowler were among those just happy to get off the course. They had to finish their second rounds on Saturday morning because of rain that deluged Bellerive late Fri-day afternoon. Woods played 29 holes, while Fowler played 26.
Woodland's 36-hole score of 120 stood as the PGA Championship record. The cut, a record 140, knocked out the likes of Phil Mickelson. That means Mickelson will fail to automatically qualify for the Ryder Cup team for the first time since his first full season on the PGA Tour in 1993.