World number one Tiger Woods eagled the par-5 15th hole for the second day in a row and jumped into fourth place here on Saturday at the PGA Western Open, stalking co-leaders Ben Curtis and Jim Furyk. Curtis, the 2003 British Open winner who has missed the cut in 12 of 14 2005 events, fired a bogey-free five-under par 66 to match Furyk, the 2003 US Open champion who has not won since 2003, for the lead on 12-under 201 for 54 holes.
Woods fired a four-under par 67 to stand on seven-under 206 after 54 holes, level with Shaun Micheel and two strokes behind third-place Tim Herron on the American-filled leaderboard at the five million-dollar event. "If I would have gotten somewhere near 10(-under) it would have been great, but I didn't quite get there," Woods said. "I got it to 7, which is fine. "Overall, I guess I've got a shot."
Woods birdied three holes in a row starting at the sixth, suffered his only bogey at the 14th, then soared behind only a top trio with his eagle on 15.
"Hopefully the guys don't run away," he said. "If I can put three, four more birdies up there, I should be all right. The golf course is not set up all that hard. You'll see some low scores tomorrow. Hopefully I can post one of them."
Curtis has struggled mightily since his astonishing major triumph two years ago. Focusing on the mechanics of his game this week has helped him forget his miserable season.
"I'm just focusing on the golf swing a little bit and it gets my mind off how I'm doing," Curtis said. "You try not to think ahead of yourself. "I tried not to get myself in too much trouble. I just went back to the basics, hit the green and the fairways and see what happens from there."
Furyk has finished second three times this season without winning but thinks this might finally be the week he closes the deal and ends the skid, thanks partly to the near-misses he has had.
"It's nice to be in this position," Furyk said. "It's stressful to be in the lead but you get a little more calm, a little more comfortable with it."
Masters champion Woods praised his extra putting practice for keeping him in this British Open tune-up.
"I've been putting well the last two days, which I haven't done all year," Woods said. "Normally I'm pretty decent, pretty good, day in and day out. This year has been kind of streaky, good and bad, nothing in between. "I logged in the time and I'm starting to see some results."
Fiji's Vijay Singh, the US PGA money leader, fired a 65 to stand on 207 along with Americans Chris Couch, Brett Quigley and Pat Perez.
"I'm a little disappointed because I had an eagle chance on 15 from 20 feet and I three putted that one and then three putted 16 as well," Singh said. "I would have loved to be at 8 instead of 6 (under)... some more work to do.
"I should have played better the first two days.