Woods leaps into hunt at Doral with sizzling 66

Woods stood on one-under 215 after 54 holes, leaving him in a share of fourth after three rounds, three off the pace as American Patrick Reed shot a 69 to lead on 212 with countrymen Jason Dufner and Hunter Mahan.

Tiger Woods plays a bunker shot on the 16th hole during the third round of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at Trump National Doral on March 8, 2014 in Doral, Florida. Chris Trotman/Getty ImagesShow less

Top-ranked Tiger Woods fired a six-under par 66, the best round of the week at the Cadillac Championship, to charge into contention Saturday at the $9 million World Golf Championships event.

Woods stood on one-under 215 after 54 holes, leaving him in a share of fourth after three rounds, three off the pace.

American Patrick Reed shot a 69 to lead on 212 with countrymen Jason Dufner and Hunter Mahan two back and Woods and Welshman Jamie Donaldson another stroke adrift.

A week after pulling out of the final round of the US PGA Honda Classic with back spasms, Woods displayed the form that has made him a 14-time major winner but has been seen inconsistently of late.

“I played well,” Woods said. “I got off to a good start. I held it together and made some putts.”

But Woods, 38, admits he still fights twinges of back pain even in a good round.

“It’s a little bit better,” Woods said. “Each day it gets sore and progressively more sore as the day goes on.”

Woods, who has won the event at Doral’s Blue Monster seven times, did not play a practice round after days of treatment to ease his back pain, reduced only to chipping and putting practice and a walk of the course on Wednesday.

Given Woods’ record at Doral, that would not normally be a huge problem, but new owner Donald Trump spent the past year revamping the layout and many holes were completely new to Woods and the elite field.

Woods said “it is really hard” to know how to read the greens in only two days, but after an opening 76 and a 73 in round two, Woods mastered them.

Woods sank a four-foot birdie putt at the par-5 opening hole. He birdied the third with a 13-foot putt, missed a four-foot putt to bogey the par-3 fourth, then answered by making an 11-foot birdie putt at the fifth.

After a birdie at the par-5 eighth, Woods added back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12, sinking putts of 16 and 22 feet respectively.

Woods found a bunker at the par-3 13th and took bogey but responded with a 35-foot birdie putt at the par-3 15th that brought back the Woods fist pump celebration of his glory days.

“It went right to left and a little faster than it showed,” Woods said. “I was happy to pull it off.”

Woods added a birdie at the 16th and closed with back-to-back pars, including a testy 10-footer at 17.

While Woods jumped 25 spots in the field, he could not catch 36-hole co-leader Reed, who seeks his third career victory.

Reed’s first title came last August at Greensboro, North Carolina and his second was this past January at the Humana Challenge.

Reed took a bogey at the third but sank a 41-foot eagle putt at the par-5 eighth then began the back nine with back-to-back birdies.

After a bogey at the par-3 15th, Reed birdied the 16th and parred the last two holes to secure his spot in Sunday’s final group.

“I feel like I played well. Coming into a Saturday where everyone was bunched, to go out and make an early bogey, then fight back to get it to 4-under for the tournament, I’m pleased,” said Reed.

“Would I like to have a couple more and a bigger cushion? Yeah, but at the same time I’m in the right position with the lead going into a Sunday.”

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