Woods briefly holds lead; everyone chasing Matsuyama

NASSAU, Bahamas — Tiger Woods started with brief run at the lead. Hideki Matsuyama ended Saturday on his way to another victory.

Matsuyama, a winner in three of his last four tournaments, holed out for eagle on the front nine and kept his mistakes to a minimum for a 7-under 65 to build a seven-shot lead in the Hero World Challenge.

British Open champion Henrik Stenson (66) and U.S. Open winner Dustin Johnson (72) were the closest players to the Japanese star.

Woods was even farther back — 11 shots — though the opening hour was filled with big excitement and raised expectations. Woods opened with three straight birdies, and then holed out a 40-yard bunker shot on the par-3 fifth hole to get within two shots as Matsuyama was getting started.

But it didn’t last. After an 18-foot birdie putt on the 11th hole to reach 11 under, Woods started missing fairways and dropping shots. And he ended the third round with another tee shot into the water on the 18th hole for a double bogey. He had to settle for a 70 and was in 10th place among 17 players.

Even so, Woods has made 19 birdies in three rounds of his first tournament in 15 months. Asked what he would have thought at the start of the week to hear that he was 8-under par through three rounds, Woods replied, “I’ve had said I’d be pretty far behind. And I’m right.”

Matsuyama was at 19-under 197, matching the 54-hole score by Bubba Watson last year at Albany. A year ago, Watson had a two-shot lead. No one is close to Matsuyama, the hottest player in golf over the last two months.

“I knew somebody was going to go low, but I thought it was going to be probably three, four guys that would post this kind of a score,” Woods said. “But Hideki is just playing unbelievable golf.”

Johnson tried to stay with him, but had a hard time keeping it out of the sandy areas off the tee. Matsuyama was two shots ahead when he laid up on the short seventh hole, which played downwind, and then one-hopped his wedge into the cup for an eagle. Just like that, the lead was up to four. And when Johnson kept making mistake, ending with a double bogey on the 18th, the margin only got wider.

Brandt Snedeker (69) and Matt Kuchar (71) were at 11-under 205.

Matsuyama took notice early when he saw Woods made a brief run up the leaderboard.