Not His Best, but Tiger Maintains Lead

It wasn't his A game, or B game for that matter, but Tiger Woods marched around Hazeltine National on Saturday with a four-shot cushion, knowing that he didn't need his absolute best to maintain the lead in the PGA Championship.

On Thursday and Friday, Tiger dominated the field, and the course, hitting fairways and tossing darts at flags to rounds of 67 and 70. Saturday was more of a struggle, but a chip-in birdie on the driveable par-4 14th and a multitude of pars was good enough for a two-shot lead heading into the final round.

The lead could have been extended to three, but Tiger's short birdie putt on the 18th went begging, and Woods had to settle, like so many times throughout the day, for a par. Woods is 8-under for the tournament, and will try to make it 15 of 16 in majors when leading or co-leading after 54 holes.

Tiger is leading Y.E. Yang and Padraig Harrington, who are both sitting at 6-under for the tournament. Harrington will most likely be kicking himself for missing out on the chance to play in the final round with Tiger on Sunday. The defending champion, just like on Friday, needed only a par on the closing hole to find himself with Woods, but once again slapped his ball around for a bogey, missing out joining Tiger in the final group.

The honor of playing with Tiger goes to Yang, the 37-year-old from South Korea. After being disqualified from PGA Tour Q-School in 2006, Yang got through in both '07 and '08, finally breaking out at this year's Honda Classic with his first victory in the States. That added to his one victory on the European Tour in '06, and his eight titles on the Korean, Asian and Japan Tours.

A win on Sunday would be Tiger's 15th major, just three shy of Jack Nicklaus' record 18 and keep Tiger from carding his first major-less season since 2004. He will have to take down not only Yang and Harrington, but big names like Henrik Stenson (4-under), Lucas Glover (4-under) and Ernie Els (3-under).

Majors are never supposed to be easy to win, not even for Tiger, who made it look so easy in the early portion of this decade. In 18 holes, we'll see if he can do what we've come to expect from him so many times before.

http://xml.channel.aol.com/xmlpublisher/fetch.v2.xml?option=expand_relative_urls&dataUrlNodes=uiConfig,feedConfig,localizationConfig,entry&id=510773&pid=510772&uts=1250382395

http://www.aolcdn.com/ke/media_gallery/v1/ke_media_gallery_wrapper.swf

Tiger Woods Photos

Tiger Woods holds up his ball on the 18th hole after finishing his third round of the 91st PGA Championship at the Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minn., Saturday, Aug. 15, 2009. Wood finished at 8 under for two rounds and a two stroke lead over Padraig Harrington.(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

DYST V3 test

LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers watches as Mo Williams #2 takes a shoe to the face by Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers after a steal in the closing seconds of the first half at The Quicken Loans Arena on February 8, 2009 in Cleveland, Ohio. (David Liam Kyle, NBAE/Getty Images)

David Liam Kyle, NBAE/Getty Images

Brazil's Diogo (L) vies for the ball with Paraguay's Hernan Perez during their U-20 South American Championship football match in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela on February 8, 2009.(Juan Barreto, AFP/Getty Images )

Juan Barreto, AFP/Getty Images

A Dalmatian looks at its handler as a judge goes to touch the dog during the first day of the 2009 Westminster Dog Show in New York February 9, 2009.(Lucas Jackson, Reuters)

Lucas Jackson, Reuters

Denver Nuggets forward Chris Anderson touches his head during a time out in the first half of their NBA basketball game with the New Jersey Nets in East Rutherford, New Jersey February 7, 2009. (Ray Stubblebine, Reuters)

Ray Stubblebine, Reuters

Margarita Marbler, of Austria, skis to a bronze medal finish the ladies moguls freestyle FIS World Cupskiing qualification at Cypress mountain in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009. (Jonathan Hayward, The Canadian Press/AP)

Jonathan Hayward, The Canadian Press/AP

West Virginia guard Darryl Bryant (25) is fouled by Providence guard Jeff Xavier (1) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Morgantown, W.Va. Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009. West Virginia won 86-59. (Don Wright, AP)

Don Wright, AP

Missouri's DeMarre Carroll, top, celebrates the Tigers' 62-60 win over Kansas in Columbia, Missouri, Monday, February 9, 2009. (Rich Sugg, Kansas City Star/MCT)

Rich Sugg, Kansas City Star/MCT

David Clarkson #23 of the New Jersey Devils fights Erik Reitz #4 of the New York Rangers during their game on February 9, 2009 at The Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey (Al Bello, Getty Images)

Al Bello, Getty Images

Driver Patrick Sheltra (60) begins to spin coming out of the fourth turn during the ARCA 200 auto race in Daytona Beach, Fla. Saturday, Feb. 7, 2009.

Darryl Graham, AP

Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives serves the ball, in this multiple exposure, to Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic during their Fed Cup tennis match in Brno February 7, 2009.

Petr Josek, Reuters