Tiger Woods could not match the pace of the front-runners on day three of the Quicken Loans National as he slipped six shots off the pace in Potomac, Maryland.
The former world number one recorded a two-under 68 that moved him to seven under par for the tournament, but Mexican Abraham Ancer and Italian Francesco Molinari left him trailing.
Ancer posted a sparkling 62 and Molinari shot a 65 as both men reached 13 under, tying for the lead two shots in front of Americans Zac Blair and Ryan Armour.
There might have been a better outcome for Woods, who made five birdies in six holes from the fourth to the ninth. His round was peppered elsewhere with dropped shots, however, and when the 42-year-old made his fourth bogey of the day at the 18th it might effectively have ended his title hopes.
Blair’s 66 and Armour’s 68 kept them in the hunt, with Ryan Landry one shot further back on 10 under after a 65, and another American, Kevin Streelman, making a 67 to sit nine under.
Woods felt his own play was generally positive, with a handful of missed opportunities costing him.
“I had some birdie opportunities on the back nine, didn’t make them, made a couple bogeys there too,” Woods said, in a video released by the PGA Tour.
“It was frustrating because I thought 10 under would have been a good score for me to end at for the day and I could easily have got that on the back nine.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s final round, he expressed hope that the course would be dry and added: “I’m going have to shoot a low round to give myself a chance.”
Ireland’s Séamus Power carded back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and 17th as he finished with a two-over 72 to slip back to two under for the tournament.
LEADERBOARD
(USA unless stated, par 70)
197 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 67 65 65, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 65 70 62
199 Ryan Armour 66 65 68, Zac Blair 67 66 66
200 Andrew Landry 63 72 65
201 Kevin Streelman 72 62 67
202 Beau Hossler 65 66 71, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 67 67 68, Troy Merritt 68 68 66
203 Tiger Woods 70 65 68, Brian Gay 67 64 72, Marc Leishman (Aus) 67 67 69, Ryan Blaum 67 72 64, Chesson Hadley 71 64 68, Bronson Burgoon 68 70 65
204 Joel Dahmen 66 69 69, Andrew Putnam 64 71 69, Ben Crane 70 68 66, Kyle Stanley 71 67 66, Sung Kang (Kor) 72 64 68, Ryan Palmer 70 67 67
205 Stephan Jaeger (Ger) 67 73 65, John Huh 70 64 71, Rickie Fowler 70 66 69
206 Sam Ryder 67 68 71, Roberto Diaz (Mex) 68 68 70, Byeong-Hun Ant (Kor) 69 70 67, Stewart Cink 68 69 69, Ethan Tracy 69 69 68, Ted Potter Jnr 72 66 68, Ollie Schniederjans 68 68 70, Tyler Duncan 69 69 68, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 67 74 65
207 Robert Garrigus 70 69 68, Dylan Meyer 70 67 70, Charles Howell III 70 67 70, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 68 68, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 70 69 68, Cameron Percy (Aus) 69 68 70, Billy Horschel 64 68 75, Johnson Wagner 70 65 72, Brandon Harkins 73 68 66
208 Adam Schenk 69 67 72, JT Poston 71 68 69, Derek Fathauer 69 68 71, Blayne Barber 70 70 68, Séamus Power (Irl) 66 70 72, Fabian Gomez (Arg) 68 69 71
209 Harold Varner III 73 65 71, Adam Hadwin (Can) 69 72 68, Lanto Griffin 68 72 69, Jonas Blixt (Swe) 71 66 72, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 68 67 74, Patrick Rodgers 68 71 70, JJ Spaun 63 73 73, Corey Conners (Can) 69 70 70
210 Chris Stroud 71 69 70, James Hahn 69 70 71, Jamie Lovemark 68 70 72
211 Nick Watney 69 72 70, Tom Lovelady 71 68 72, Martin Flores 72 68 71, Gary Woodland 69 69 73, David Lingmerth (Swe) 68 71 72
212 Kevin Nam 70 70 72, David Hearn (Can) 71 69 72, Jimmy Walker 74 67 71, Doug Ghim (am) 73 68 71
213 Doc Redman (a) 70 69 74, Scott Brown 70 70 73, Dominic Bozzelli 70 70 73
214 Xinjun Zhang (Chn) 71 70 73
215 Bill Haas 72 69 74
218 Kevin Tway 70 71 77
