Woods falls two off pace
Tiger (68) can’t keep up as Gore fires career-best 62.
Tiger Woods couldn’t have asked for much more at his first Wyndham Championship.
He’s playing with confidence. His scores show it. And now he’ll play a Sunday round that matters.
Woods shot a 2-under 68 in the third round Saturday, leaving him two strokes behind leader and longtime friend Jason Gore in a three-way tie for second.
Gore had a career-best 62 to reach 15-under 195 at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.
“I need to go out there tomorrow and make a run and get myself up there and make some birdies,” Woods said. “There’s a bunch of guys ... at 13 (under). There’s a whole slew of guys at 12, 11, 10. Anybody can make a run and shoot the score Jason and Jonas (Blixt) did.”
Woods — whose streak of 28 holes without a bogey ended on the 18th when his 6-foot par putt lipped out — reeled off 10 straight pars before briefly moving within one stroke of Gore with a birdie on the par-3 16th.
“I felt very steady from the word ‘go,’” Woods said.
Blixt and Scott Brown joined Woods at 13 under. Blixt shot a career-best 62, and Brown had a 66.
Former Wyndham winners Webb Simpson (64) and Brandt Snedeker (67) were three strokes back along with Paul Casey (66), Jim Herman (66) and Cameron Percy (67).
Woods was poised to make a run at his first win in more than two years — one that would earn him enough points to clinch a spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs opener next week in New Jersey. Depending on the math, a solo second-place finish also might be enough for Woods, who’s at No. 187.
“I think it’s awesome to see him playing well again, to see him playing like Tiger Woods,” Gore said, “because that’s what we all want to see.”
Woods is seeking his 80th PGA Tour victory — and first since the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Playing the Wyndham for the first time in an effort to earn a spot in The Barclays, Woods’ day was about consistently making pars — 15 in all, including a remarkable save on the 10th with a 24-foot putt.
“The putter just felt really good. My pace, I felt like I could be aggressive,” Woods said.
Gore started the round six strokes off the lead. He took over the top spot at 14 under with a birdie on the 15th, then closed with another on the 18th — hitting his second shot to 7 to set up his ninth birdie.
Champions Tour: Billy Andrade made a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th hole for a 7-under 65 and a three-stroke lead after the second round of the Boeing Classic.
The 51-year-old Andrade had eight birdies — three in a row on Nos. 13-15 — and a bogey to reach 10-under 134 at TPC Snoqualmie (Wash.) Ridge. Bernhard Langer and Jeff Freeman were tied for second. Langer, the 2010 winner, had a 66, and Freeman shot 68. Fred Couples, from Seat- tle, was tied for fourth at 4 under after a 71.
LPGA Tour: Twotime champion Lydia Ko bogeyed the final hole for a 3-under 69 to fall into a tie with Candie Kung for the third-round lead in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open. Kung, the second-round leader after tying the Vancouver Golf Club record with a 64, had a 71 to match Ko at 12-under 204. Alison Lee was third at 10 under after a 66.
U.S. Amateur: SMU senior Bryson DeChambeau advanced to the final to stay in position to become the fifth player to win the event and NCAA individual title in the same year. DeChambeau beat Southern California sophomore Sean Crocker 4 and 3 at Olympia Fields in Illinois. He will face Virginia junior Derek Bard in the 36-hole final today.