DeChambeau ahead

Woods makes another charge up the leaderboard in Memorial

DUBLIN (Ohio): The cheers kept coming across Muirfield Village, even after Tiger Woods was done making another run up the leaderboard at the Memorial.

Patrick Cantlay made two eagles, including a hole-in-one.

Joaquin Niemann, the 19-year-old from Chile, took the lead with a 50-foot eagle putt and fell out of the lead when his bid for another eagle attempt landed in a tiny corner of a meandering creek.

Bryson DeChambeau (pic) ended an actionpacked Saturday by making one of only six birdies on the par-three 16th hole, saving par with a tough flop shot from behind the 17th green and finishing off a six-under 66 with a 9-iron into five feet.

That gave him a one-shot lead going into the final round, which features Woods in the mix at Muirfield Village for the first time in six years.

“Look, I just want to birdie every hole,” DeChambeau said. “That’s all we’re trying to out there.”

The course is so soft and vulnerable, it seems as though that’s what it might take.

Woods certainly appears up to the task. He hit the ball so pure on Friday that he missed five putts inside seven feet and still shot 67. He had just as much control on Saturday and at one point was tied for the lead. And then he three-putted two of the last three holes, missing a par putt just over three feet on the 18th, and all he had to show for it was a 68.

“I know I shot 68 today, but again, that’s probably the highest score I could have possibly shot,” said Woods, who was five shots behind.

“I played really, really well. I played beautiful- ly, actually. Had total control of what I was doing out there and just didn’t finish it off.”

Woods is a five-time winner at the Memorial, the last one in 2012. He has gone nearly five years since his last victory. This is the third time this year Woods has gone into the final round within five shots of the lead. Still steaming from his last putt, he was asked if his game was good enough to win.

“Well, I was at 11-under, and I had wasted a bunch of shots the last two days and I was fourover par in the first round,” he said. “So you do the math.”

The math favoured physics- minded DeChambeau going into the final round, but not by much.

He was at 14-under 202, and even DeChambeau couldn’t help but look back at two short birdies that got away.

“Just keep thinking about those two three-footers I missed,” said DeChambeau, who was at 14-under 202.

“I played great, obviously. Ecstatic about where I am.”

DeChambeau wasn’t even sure where he was when he finished because so many players worked their way up and down the leaderboard over the final two hours. He wound up with a one-shot lead over Kyle Stanley, who bogeyed the 18th hole from the bunker for a 70; Cantlay, who drove into the creek left of the 18th fairway for a bogey and a 66; and Niemann, who atoned for one big mistake on the 15th hole with a birdie on the 18th for a 70.

Six players had at least a share of the lead at some point.

An Byeong-hun played bogey-free for a 69 and was two shots behind, while Justin Rose dropped two shots over the last three holes for a 69 and was four back.

Woods played the last five holes of the front nine in five-under, starting with his second eagle of the week. And then he stalled, just like he did on Friday. He didn’t make another birdie until the par-five 15th, when his sharp-breaking 15-footer dropped to give him a tie for the lead.

That didn’t last long. Woods ran his 45-foot birdie putt about seven feet by on the par-three 16th and missed it coming back, and then closed by missing a three-foot par putt. — AP