Title-holder Tiger Woods, hunting a 13th WGC (World Golf Championships) crown, strengthened his grip on the WGC-CA Championship with a four-under-par 68 in Saturday's third round.
Two ahead at the start of another difficult, blustery day at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa, the five-times winner ended it four strokes clear on 11-under 205. Woods made a red-hot start, eagling the par-five first, before mixing three birdies with a lone bogey to finish ahead of US Ryder Cup team mate Brett Wetterich (67).
Australian left-hander Nick O'Hern was alone in third place at six under, birdies on three of the last five holes giving him a joint best-of-the-day 66.
Ernie Els, the 2004 champion at Mount Juliet in Ireland, had been tied for second going up the last but double-bogeyed the water-lined par-four hole for a 71. That left him in a six-way tie for fourth place at five under.
Level with the South African were Fiji's Vijay Singh (69), Denmark's Thomas Bjorn (71), Americans Charles Howell III (71) and Tom Pernice junior (70) and Aaron Baddeley of Australia (71).
"I couldn't ask for a better start, that's as ideal as it gets," a smiling Woods told reporters.
ROLLING GOOD:
"Overall, I just kept the ball in play and put the ball on the greens, and they are rolling pretty good. It's just a matter of giving myself enough looks at them."
World number one Woods, who has clinched 10 WGC strokeplay titles in just 15 starts, relishes holding a lead going into the final round.
"If you have the lead, you're playing pretty good and I think you have to enjoy being in that position," said the 31-year-old American, who has triumphed 38 times out of 41 when holding or sharing the 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour.
"The greatest thing about having the lead is that, if you make a couple of mistakes, you can still win the golf tournament.
"When you're coming from behind and make a couple of mistakes, you can put yourself right out of it. I always think it's more comfortable being in the lead."
Woods, whose last victory came at the Buick Invitational in January, is hunting his sixth title in the tournament's eighth edition.
Ohio native Wetterich, whose only PGA Tour success came at last year's Byron Nelson Championship, is looking forward to playing with Woods in Sunday's final round.
"I haven't played with him in a tournament round before, although we did play nine holes together at the Ryder Cup," the 33-year-old said.
TO PROVE:
"I definitely still have a lot to prove, not only to myself but to guys out here.
"But I'm very happy with how I played today. I hit a lot of solid shots, hit a few close and made some good birdie putts."
Woods, who charged ahead of the field with a six-birdie 66 in Friday's second round, made a fast start after pounding a 296-yard drive down the first fairway.
He then struck a four-iron from 229 yards to within 10 feet of the flag and rolled in the putt for an eagle-three.