DeChambeau takes 1-shot lead as Tiger lurks after 68

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-inone.

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 ended an action-packed Saturday by making one of only six birdies on the par-3 16th hole, saving par with a tough flop shot from behind the 17th green and finishing off a 6-under 66 with a 9-iron into 5 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 7 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 3 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 beautifully, 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 par, and I had wasted a bunch of shots the last two days and I was 4-over par in the first round,” he said. “So you do the math.”

The math favored physicsminded DeChambeau going into Sunday, 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. after Smith stumbled with back-to-back bogeys and then surged ahead with three straight birdies on the back nine. She was at 12-under 204 for the tournament.

Smith started the tournament with back-to-back 67s, but shot a 74 in the third round and didn’t make a birdie to fall into second place.

South Korea’s Hyo-Joo Kim was in third after shooting 68 and was six shots back.

DAVID DERMER — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Bryson DeChambeau, right, listens to his caddie, Tim Tucker, along the 18th fairway during the third round of the Memorial on Saturday in Dublin, Ohio.