Woods Extends His Lead to Six

Tiger Woods shot a seven-under-par 65 Saturday in the 100th Western Open, setting the 54-hole tournament record at 18-under 198. That breaks by three strokes the mark set by Sam Snead in 1949, and matched by six others.

Woods has already tied the Western’s single-round scoring mark, shooting a 63 on Thursday.

“I think I got off to a good start,” he said. “I hit the ball really well starting out, and on top of that, I made everything.”

He also extended his lead to six shots -- bad news for his opponents. Of the other 30 tournaments he has led or been tied for the lead after three rounds, he has won 28 of them.

And two of those victories were in the 1997 and 1999 Western Opens.

“I’ve always enjoyed being ahead. On top of that, if you’re ahead and you go out there and shoot the same score, you automatically win,” Woods said.

“You don’t have to try and make up ground. If you are ahead and you make a couple of mistakes, at least you have that lead and the cushion to right the ship and get it right back, and you can still win the tournament.”

Robert Allenby, who won the tournament in 2000, and Cliff Kresge are tied for second at 204.

Rich Beem matched Woods’ 65 and was seven strokes back. Mike Weir, defending champion Jerry Kelly and Glen Day are at 206.

“Obviously if Tiger keeps playing the way he is, no, there’s no way,” Beem said when asked if anyone could catch Woods. “Maybe somebody can shoot 63 or even 62 and maybe he’ll shoot even par. He’s obviously hitting the ball fantastic and obviously playing fantastic.”

Woods was near-perfect through the front nine, shooting a 30 and making only one bogey. He hit six of seven fairways. One fairway he missed didn’t cost him. In the right rough off the tee on the par-five No. 5, Woods hit a tremendous second shot that left him only 11 inches from the pin.

He rolled it in for an eagle, getting to 15 under.

He needed only 11 putts on the front nine, two-putting only twice. He had putts of eight feet or less on all but three holes, and his longest was a 20-footer on the par-three No. 6.