The chase was on in the third round of the British Open here on Saturday as Tiger Woods' saw his lead evaporate in the space of a few holes. Woods started the day at 12-under, one clear of Ernie Els, three ahead of Chris DiMarco and four ahead of Retief Goosen.
But the early fireworks came from Spain's Sergio Garcia and Jim Furyk of the United States playing nine pairings ahead of Woods and Els. The 26-year-old Garcia went out in six-under par 29 and was threatening the lowest score ever in the Open of 63 first set by Mark Hayes at Turnberry in 1977 and matched by six others since then.
Garcia started the day at five-under after a disappointing second round but he kick-started his challenge with an eagle-two at the second holing out from about 140 yards.
Birdies followed at the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth as he closed to within one shot of overnight leader Tiger Woods who was just teeing off nine pairings later. Garcia's playing partner Furyk was also in fine fettle reaching the turn in four over 31 to get to nine-under.
Woods dropped a stroke at the second when he caught a pot bunker with his drive after Els had dropped one at the first. That left a three-way tie for the lead at 11-under between Woods, Els, Garcia and Furyk then joined them there with birdies at the 10th and 11th.
DiMarco birdied the third to stay in touch at 10-under with Goosen a further stroke back as he birdied the same hole. Phil Mickelson's sorry Open continued though as he lost all hope of getting back into contention with a run of three bogeys from the seventh to reach the turn at just one-under for the tournament.
Both Woods and Els fired course record 65s on Friday and both have put adversity aside this year to fight their way back to their best form. Woods took an unprecedented nine weeks off to be with his dying father in May and June and on his return to the US Open the unspeakable happened and he missed the cut.
But he has returned to his majestic best at Royal Liverpool and he gave a golfing masterclass in the second round riding a stunning eagle-two at the tough 14th en route to his 12-under total for the tournament. Els, six years the senior of the two at 36, has needed a year to fully recover physically and psychologically from a jetski accident that nearly wrecked his knee.
The last time the two went head-to-head on a golf course, it lasted just one hole, Woods winning a sudden-death play-off to win the Dubai Desert Classic in early February. DiMarco, like Woods, came into Hoylake on the back of a family tragedy, his mother dying from a sudden heart attack just two weeks ago. The American, who famously took Tiger Woods to a playoff in last year's Masters, has out of the blue discovered a liking for links golf and he says his Augusta experience has taught him that Woods is beatable.
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