Woods comes into US Open contention
Saturday, 16 Jun 2007 22:55
Tiger pounces
US golfer Tiger Woods has started brightly in his bid to secure a 13th major championship after solid progress in the early stages of the US Open third round.
The 31-year-old posted birdies at the third and fourth holes, sounding an ominous warning to his opponents in the process.
Fashioning a number of birdie opportunities over the remaining front nine holes, the world number one has retained his three-over position as rival golfers appear to be capitulating in their numbers.
Early third-round leader Angel Cabrera bogeyed the tenth hole to drop back to holding a share of the lead with Woods and Sweden's Niclas Fasth.
England's Paul Casey remains near the top of the leaderboard in the opening stages of the US Open third round at Oakmont, Pennsylvania, despite also having dropped a couple of shots more recently.
The 29-year-old Cheltenham-born talent had continued the rich vein of form which saw him card a superb 66 in the second round in testing conditions early on, birdying the second hole to go to two over par.
Despite missing an eagle opportunity at the fourth hole, Casey accepted the subsequent birdie chance to move up to one over par, one shot behind tournament leader Angel Cabrera.
Prior to his third round start, the world number 16 highlighted the importance of driving accurately in what is proving to be considerable test. He told the BBC: "I've got to try to hit double digits in fairways off the tee."
Dropped shots from Justin Rose in the early holes have left Casey as the likeliest Briton to mount a serious challenge over the remainder of the tournament, with the 26-year-old South African-born talent dropping a series of shots to fall back to six over par.