Woods gets the drop on field

The typical picture of Tiger Woods is well known and it’s the one where he’s charging on the back nine, fists pumping, birdies falling like rain. Saturday at the Buick Invitational, there were no birdies for Woods on the back nine and not a drop of rain either, but Woods still moved into striking distance after the third round at Torrey Pines.

Woods didn’t have a birdie the last 11 holes, a stretch that wasn’t overpowering, yet didn’t hurt him much either. On his way to what would be his seventh consecutive PGA Tour victory, Woods isn’t far off.

His three-under-par 69 put him two shots behind rookies Andrew Buckle and Brandt Snedeker -- who are at 11-under 205 -- and one shot behind Kevin Sutherland for today’s last round.

Woods said there was one factor that weighed heavily in his favor.

“I didn’t drop a shot,” he said.

Woods was one of only two players -- Nick Watney was the other -- who didn’t have a bogey on a mostly cloudy, cool, brisk day on the South Course, perched on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. Woods and Watney became the only players to play the South Course without a bogey this week.

Improving his position by eight places Saturday, Woods said he is making progress in his first tournament of 2007.

“It’s nice to be in contention the first week out,” he said. “That’s why I prepared as hard as I did to put myself in this spot, and hopefully I can stay out of the bunkers a little bit and make a few putts. Again, also staying bogey-free would be nice.”

And although Woods didn’t mention it, he’s not exactly a stranger to the kind of pressure associated with winning on Sunday, which is clearly an advantage today. Buckle, 24, shot a 68, and is playing his sixth PGA Tour event. Snedeker, 27, is playing his 14th. Sutherland, 42, has won once in 11 full years on the PGA Tour.

Meanwhile, Woods has won 54 times. Speaking of numbers, he also visited nine bunkers Saturday, once again plunking his drive into a bunker on the right side of the fairway at the 18th, where he hit a five-wood from 240 yards into the short rough at the back of the green.

Woods chipped to five feet from the hole, which was in a new front-right spot. The green slopes from back to front, and Woods missed his birdie putt inches to the left.

“I didn’t think it could go left,” he said. “It’s just a new pin. I’ve never seen it there before.”

Something else Woods hasn’t met before: Buckle.

“There’s a lot of new guys out here I don’t know,” he said. “You go out on the range and there’s a bunch of new faces.”

Actually, Buckle, from Brisbane, Australia, is not a new face to Torrey Pines, where he won the Callaway Junior World Championship twice, at 16 and 17. He didn’t play the course again until this week.

As a teen, Buckle beat out soon-to-be PGA Tour players such as Camilo Villegas, Anthony Kim and Kevin Na but said he couldn’t remember who was in contention back them.

“It wasn’t Tiger Woods, that’s for sure,” he said

Snedeker, who began the day with a three-shot lead, came up with an uneven round of five birdies and seven bogeys that resulted in a two-over 74. He also missed a seven-footer for birdie at the 18th that would have put him in the lead.

Sutherland finished off a round of 70 by two-putting from 50 feet to birdie the last hole, which put him in today’s last threesome with Buckle and Snedeker and knocked Woods out.

Snedeker said he was relieved about that.

“I need to send him a thank-you note. That’s very nice of him,” Snedeker said. “No matter what anybody says, I would love to play in the last group with Tiger, I think that’s where everybody wants to be, but as a rookie, I’m kind of glad the way it worked out, you know. Like it a lot.”

Sutherland said it’s a break for Buckle and Snedeker to be playing in the same group as him and not with Woods. “There’s a big difference, there’s a huge difference,” he said.

But there’s not much of a difference in scores among the leaders. Only three shots separate the first 14 players and Woods has company with his nine-under 207, joined by Troy Matteson, Bill Haas and Charles Howell III.

Woods said there isn’t going to be anything automatic today, and it’s all about the South Course, all 7,469 yards of it.

“This golf course is not playing easy. It’s not playing easy at all,” Woods said of the site for next year’s U.S. Open. “The fairways are fast, they are running, and on top of that, the greens are firming up. They are not exactly smooth either.”

As for Snedeker, he’s just trying to smooth out, relax and stay calm. He watched “The Departed” in his hotel room Thursday night after his round of 61 and took in a different movie Friday night.

“I watched ‘Ice Age II,’ a real mature movie.”

Snedeker said he isn’t superstitious, especially about what clothes he wears Sunday, but promised not to wear a red shirt.

“I believe somebody has a trademark on that one,” he said.

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thomas.bonk@latimes.com