Woods held back by missed putts

ST. LOUIS — Tiger Woods knew the shot was good.

He struck it pure from 240 yards on the 17th hole and started strutting down the fairway, watching the ball land 20 feet from the pin — one good putt away from an eagle that would have vaulted him into second place.

And Woods knew the putt was bad.

He muscled it three feet past the hole, then pulled the comebacker off line and, after settling for a disappointing par, he briefly grabbed the putter with both hands, as if to bend it, before deciding better of it.

That par was the most disappointing of the 10 straight Woods made to finish his third round on Saturday at the PGA Championship.

He shot a 4- under 66 to reach 8 under, four strokes behind leader Brooks Koepka.

“Could’ve been a little closer,” Woods said. “But I’ve got a shot.”

For the third straight day at the wide- open, squishy Bellerive Country Club, Woods hit the ball well from tee to green — he hit 15 greens in regulation — and looked every bit the contender he was three weeks ago at the British Open.

“Hearing the crowd, and Tiger’s performing great, it was like turning back the hands of the clock,” said Stewart Cink, who played with Woods and also shot 4 under to also finish four out of the lead.

But Woods’ putter? It brought more moans than cheers to the fans, and more frustration than joy to him.

He has not made a putt of longer than 17 feet over three days, and has made only five putts of more than 10 feet all week. As Saturday’s round wore on, he was consistently coming up short as the already soft greens got even slower; he had six birdie tries of 20 feet or less over the back nine and didn’t make one.

“The greens were getting fuzzy, they’re getting slow, and I didn’t hit the putts quite hard enough,” Woods said. “And I made sure I did on 17. And I blew it by about 4 feet and then pulled the next one.”

The misses on

17, combined with a missed birdie try from 15 feet below the hole on 18, took away the prospect of Woods playing in the final group in a major for the first time since 2009 ( when he lost to Y. E. Yang at the PGA).

But it doesn’t mean he won’t have a chance to catch Koepka, who got to 13 under before he showed glimpses of a struggle — making back- to- back bogeys on 14 and 15 to come back to the field. Koepka closed with a two- shot lead over Adam Scott, with three more players at 9 under separating Koepka from Woods.

“The golf course is playing soft, it’s gettable, you have to make birdies,” Woods said.

Ace for Wallace

Matt Wallace aced the par- 3 16th hole with a 5- iron on Saturday to spur a Tiger- like roar from the gallery awaiting Woods to arrive in the following group.

It was the 26th hole- in- one in the PGA Championship since such records were kept starting in 1983.

Wallace, a 28- yearold Englishman with three European Tour victories, rewarded those fans by chucking the ball into the crowd.

The ace got Wallace to 2 under for the round and 5 under for the championship.