BOSTON, Massachusetts (AFP) — Brett Wetterich fired a five-under 66 here Sunday to claim a one-stroke lead after the third round of the seven million-dollar Deutsche Bank Championship.
Wetterich posted his best round since June as he moved to 13-under 200 in the tournament which concludes Monday on the US Labor Day holiday.
He was one shot in front of fellow American Arron Oberholser, who also carded a 66 for 201.
Wetterich, whose only PGA Tour victory came at the Byron Nelson Classic in 2006, eagled the par-five seventh to take the lead and maintained it despite missing a pair of short putts at 16 and 18.
Wetterich was pleased with his performance, despite the shaky finish.
"Really only two putts - the par putt on 16 ... I missed that putt, and I don't know what happened there," Wetterich said. "And then 18, I would have liked to have made that putt, but other than that, I can't complain.
"I made some great putts, and I really gained a stroke or two by making par on the fifth, so I can't complain."
After seizing a share of the lead halfway through the round, Tiger Woods had an uncharacteristic late stumble, three-putting the final two holes, to finish with a 67 in the second event of the inaugural FedEx Cup playoff series.
Woods was three shots off the lead at 203.
"I'm going to have to actually shoot a really low round tomorrow and hopefully it'll be enough," Woods said.
Phil Mickelson failed to capitalize on a couple of spectacular shots but he regrouped to birdie 18 to finish with a 68 and move into sole possession of third place on 202.
Woods appeared ready to assume control of the tournament midway through the round.
After an opening-round 72 left him nine shots off the lead, the world's No. 1 player rebounded with a 64 on Saturday to get in contention and continued his move up the leaderboard early in the third round.
Woods birdied the second, then birdied three in a row from the eighth to move into a tie with overnight co-leader Aaron Baddeley and Wetterich.
Another birdie at No. 12 got Woods within a shot of Wetterich, but he suffered a three-putt bogey on the 17th and had to settle for a par on the par-five 18th after another three-putt.
"I can describe it a lot of different ways, but I'll just leave it as I'm not very happy right now," Woods said. "Just bad speed. Just terrible speed. I ran the first putt by on 17 about seven feet and then probably the last one about 10 feet. Just not very good there."
Mickelson almost holed out from the fairway at 14, but missed a short birdie putt, then hit the flagstick from the fairway on 15, only to watch the ball bounce off the green.
After carding 10 straight pars, Mickelson hit a beautiful approach shot on 18 and converted the short putt for a birdie.
He will be paired with Woods on Sunday for the third time this week.
"I need a good round tomorrow," Mickelson said. "I feel like there's a low round out there, but usually most of the birdie holes here are in the first seven holes here, so you want to get off to a quick start and birdie some of the par fives."
Australia's Baddeley also staggered at the end with bogeys at 16 and 18 to finish at 71 and in a tie with Woods at 203.
"It was very disappointing to bogey the last," Baddeley said. "I've been driving the ball beautifully today and just hit it in the bunker and hit an awful bunker shot in the hazard. But I played really nice today. I hit a lot of great shots. I felt like I got nothing out of my round in comparison to how well I played."
Rich Beem and Mike Weir, who also held a share of the lead after two rounds, both struggled. Beem birdied two of the last three holes for a 73 to drop him six shots back at 206.
Canadian Weir bogeyed 16 and 17 en route to a 74 for 207.
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