Golf: Danny Lee slips out of contention at the Farmers Insurance Open

New Zealand's Danny Lee. Photo / Getty Images

Danny Lee's steady slide down the leaderboard at the Farmers Insurance Open continued in the third round, leaving the Kiwi No.2 out of contention.

Fifteenth after the opening round at Torrey Pines, Lee dropped to 23rd at the midway point and is 39th with a day to play.

His one-over 73 on Saturday featured three bogeys and left him on three-under, eight shots behind Swedish leader Alex Noren.

Noren – who has nine European Tour wins and is ranked No.19 in the world – carded a three-under 69, giving him his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour of his career.

The Swede leads by one shot over American Ryan Palmer, who struggled after building a two-shot lead by nailing a 45-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods continued to defy the odds after carding a two-under 70 despite a wildly inconsistent showing from the tee.

The 14-time major winner had his short game to thank after hitting just three of 14 fairways and nine of 18 greens.

Elsewhere, Ryan Fox, who this week usurped Lee as the highest ranked New Zealander on the world golf rankings, missed the cut in the latest European Tour event.

Fox shot successive rounds of 71 at the Dubai Desert Classic to be two-under, leaving him three shots short of advancing to the weekend.

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