Safe and sound

TULSA, Okla. -- Is there any way under the sun to beat Tiger Woods?

Probably, although it might not be discovered today in the final round of the PGA Championship, where you can find a bunch of people who seem fairly certain that he simply isn’t going to be caught.

Funny thing is, they’re the players trying to beat Woods.

From Arron Oberholser: “I think he would take Bobby Jones behind the woodshed.”

From Ernie Els: “If I was a fan on the couch, I’d be putting my house on him.”

From Scott Verplank: “He’s the wrong guy to let get out ahead of you.”

But that’s where Woods begins the fourth round at the oven known as Southern Hills Country Club, a three-shot lead in his favor, a 13th major championship in his sights, a mountain of confidence in his head and an intimidation factor in his corner that’s impossible to underestimate.

Woods finished off a third-round 69 in blazing heat, sized up his advantage over Stephen Ames, wrapped himself in a towel to protect himself from the air conditioning that blasted him as he answered questions, and looked like, what, Superman?

Why would the other players react that way to him?

“Maybe because I’ve won 12 majors.”

It was another semi-conservative but thoroughly effective display Saturday for Woods, whose only goals were to shoot under par and increase his lead. He managed to accomplish both, staying out of trouble for the most part, except for a bogey at the par-three 14th where he knocked it into a bunker and missed an 18-foot putt for par.

Verplank, who was two shots behind Woods to start the round, managed only a four-over 74, mostly because of his double bogey at the 12th, where he hit his drive into a grove of trees, clipped a limb on the way out and chipped over the green.

It’s Ames who is closest to Woods after his second consecutive 69 that featured a birdie at the 18th. At seven-under 203, Woods has rounds of 71, 63 and 69, but there are other, more formidable numbers that seem to favor him.

Woods has never lost a PGA Tour event when he has had more than a one-shot lead after 54 holes. He’s also 12-0 in majors when he has either held or shared the 54-hole lead. He’s 39-0 in PGA Tour events with at least a one-shot lead since losing to Ed Fiori in the 1996 Quad City Classic, Woods’ rookie year.

There’s more, of course. His final-round scoring average while holding at least a share of the lead going into the last round at majors is 69.25 and the 12 players paired with Woods in the final group on Sunday have averaged 72.92.

Besides Woods, only four other players are under par. Woody Austin’s 69 leaves him alone in third at three-under 207, John Senden’s 69 has him five shots behind Woods in fourth, and Els is six shots behind in fifth at one-under 209 after his own round of 69.

To Els, that seems like a mile.

“The statistics will tell you that, yes, it’s over, but as a competitor, I can’t sit here and tell you it’s over,” he said. “So I’ve got to play the round of my life. We’ve all got to play the rounds of our lives and he’s got to have a couple of mistakes.”

Of course, Woods is capable of making errors, although precious few have occurred this week. Woods has managed to turn the tight fairways and tricky greens into his living room, staying out of the thick Bermuda rough for the most part with his strategy of sticking mainly to irons off the tees and lag-putting the greens to death.

Woods hit 14 of 18 greens Saturday, a 77.8% success rate and the best he has done so far this week.

“I know what it takes,” he said, the key being to take what the golf course gives you.

“As far as winning the majors I’ve won, I’ve put myself in that position. I’ve always enjoyed being out front and hopefully I can go ahead and play the way I’ve been playing the last few days. I feel like I’ve really controlled my golf ball around the golf course.”

It was a mild day for Woods, scoring-wise, with two birdies to go along with his lone bogey. At the fourth, he hit a three-iron and then a nine-iron to within 12 feet of the pin and made the putt for birdie. His other birdie was at the 12th, where he hit a two-iron off the tee and then an eight-iron to within 10 feet and made the putt again.

At that stage, Woods’ lead was five shots over Ames.

Even if Woods’ 69 paled in comparison to the incandescent 63 that he shot Friday, the degree of difficulty in backing up such a low round is high.

Meanwhile, many eyes will be trained on the Woods-Ames final pairing. Woods drubbed Ames, 9 and 8, in the first round of the 2006 Match Play Championship at La Costa, after Woods had seen published remarks by Ames saying that he didn’t mind playing Woods because Woods was hitting his driver all over the place.

Ames didn’t feel like rehashing the story.

“Are we here at the PGA Championship or are we at the Match Play?” he asked.

Ames said that he felt his remarks were taken out of context, but didn’t wish to elaborate.

“I don’t know if I want to go there because you might take it out of context again. So we’ll leave it at that. Next question.”

So is this a nothing-to-lose situation?

“For me it’s a great opportunity,” Ames said. “Tiger’s looking for his 13th and I’m looking for my first.”

Woods said Ames speaks his mind and that he’s opinionated and that’s the end of the story. And, no, he would not be at all interested in a friendly wager with Ames.

“I think we all understand we have a major championship on the line,” Woods said. “I think that’s enough, isn’t it?”

--

thomas.bonk@latimes.com