KEY POINTS:
TULSA, Oklahoma - Tiger Woods stretched his lead to three strokes over Canadian Stephen Ames at the US PGA Championship on Saturday, taking dead aim on his 13th major title.
Woods, who held a two-shot overnight lead, posted a one-under-par 69 for a seven-under-par 203 total on another sweltering day at Southern Hills.
The world number one registered two birdies against one bogey as he played a solid round, content to watch his rivals slide back and struggle to stay in the hunt.
The top five players on the leaderboard all posted 69s.
Ames rolled in a long birdie putt on the difficult 18th hole to move into second place at four-under 206, one stroke better than American Woody Austin, who bogeyed the last.
Australian John Senden was in fourth place at two-under-par 208, with three-times major winner Ernie Els of South Africa next at 209 as only five players finished 54 holes under par.
Local favorite Scott Verplank, who trailed by two entering the round and played alongside Woods, double-bogeyed the par-four 12th hole as Woods made birdie, starting a plunge that put him seven strokes behind after a four-over 74.
The 31-year-old Woods birdied the fourth and 12th holes and recorded his only bogey at the 223-yard par-three 14th when he needed two putts after blasting out of a greenside bunker.
Woods, who won last year's US PGA at Medinah, is 12-for-12 winning major championships when entering the final round with the lead.
COMPLETED THIRD-ROUND SCORES
203 Tiger Woods 71 63 69
206 Stephen Ames (Canada) 68 69 69
207 Woody Austin 68 70 69
208 John Senden (Australia) 69 70 69
209 Ernie Els (South Africa) 72 68 69
210 Boo Weekley 76 69 65, Nathan Green (Australia) 75 68 67, K.J. Choi (South Korea) 71 71 68, Kevin Sutherland 73 69 68, Arron Oberholser 68 72 70, Adam Scott (Australia) 72 68 70, Scott Verplank 70 66 74
211 Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 75 70 66, Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 69 68 74
212 Peter Hanson (Sweden) 72 71 69, Sean O'Hair 70 72 70
213 Steve Flesch 72 73 68, Ken Duke 73 71 69, Justin Rose (Britain) 70 73 70, Luke Donald (Britain) 72 71 70, Anders Hansen (Denmark) 71 71 71, Stuart Appleby (Australia) 73 68 72, John Daly 67 73 73
214 Steve Stricker 77 68 69, Brandt Snedeker 74 71 69, Ian Poulter (Britain) 71 73 70, Joe Durant 71 73 70, Shaun Micheel 73 71 70, Bob Tway 71 72 71, Darren Clarke (Britain) 77 66 71, Tim Herron 75 68 71, Corey Pavin 74 68 72, Stewart Cink 72 70 72, Heath Slocum 72 70 72, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 69 73 72, Troy Matteson 72 69 73, Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 69 71 74
215 Brett Wetterich 74 71 70, Richard Green (Australia) 72 73 70, Kenny Perry 72 72 71, Shingo Katayama (Japan) 76 67 72, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 70 71 74, Graeme Storm (Britain) 65 76 74
216 Anthony Kim 73 72 71, David Toms 71 74 71, Hunter Mahan 71 73 72, Rod Pampling (Australia) 70 74 72, Nick O'Hern (Australia) 72 72 72, Simon Dyson (Britain) 73 71 72, Bart Bryant 74 70 72, Brett Quigley 76 67 73, Will MacKenzie 72 70 74, Paul Casey (Britain) 72 70 74, Paul McGinley (Ireland) 74 66 76, Pat Perez 70 69 77
217 Charles Howell III 75 70 72, Phil Mickelson 73 69 75
218 Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 72 73 73, Chad Campbell 77 68 73, Tom Lehman 73 71 74, Lee Westwood (Britain) 69 74 75, Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 71 68 79
219 Todd Hamilton 73 72 74, Lucas Glover 70 75 74, Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 73 71 75
220 Billy Mayfair 76 69 75, Frank Lickliter II 70 75 75, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 73 71 76
221 Brian Bateman 71 74 76, Mike Small 73 70 78
223 Ryan Benzel 71 72 80
* Sergio Garcia (Spain) 70 75 74 disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard
- REUTERS
