Woods needs to break new ground

Tiger Woods must break new ground if he is to lift his second Old Claret Jug at Royal St George’s tomorrow – he must win from behind.

In Woods’ eight previous major titles, including the 2000 Open at St Andrew’s, he has led going into the final day.

The world number one goes into tomorrow’s intriguing final round lying joint third on one over par, two shots behind overnight leader Thomas Bjorn and one behind American compatriot Davis Love.

And he is relishing the chance

“I’d like to put that right tomorrow,” said Woods, who shot a two-under par 69 this afternoon.

“It’s not one of the things I really think about. I’ve made eight a different way. Maybe I can make one this way. I’m grinding so hard.”

The last time he was in contention in a major going into the last day was at the US Masters in April when he started the day four behind and succumbed to the pressure of the chase as early as the third hole when he made a double bogey six.

Not that anyone should put too much store by those statistics considering that at Pebble Beach in 2000 Woods found a way to triumph after lying seven back with seven holes to play.

“You figure most of the guys are going to get off to pretty good starts tomorrow,” said Woods.

“It’s probably going to weed itself out on the back nine. At least put yourself in a position so you have a chance.”

Woods was five under par for the front nine today after a birdie and two eagles, the second of which came at the seventh following his ‘miracle’ 40-yard chip in from a greenside bunker.

“I thought the way my week has been it was going to stop one roll short,” said Woods.

“It came out great. It wasn’t a shot I was trying to get close. I was just trying to get the ball up on top somehow. And it went in the hole. It was a bonus.”

He dropped three shots on the difficult home straight and promptly admitted that the Sandwich course was one of the toughest challenges of his illustrious career.

“It’s tough, man,” he said. “When you play most tournaments you hit a tee shot down the middle, you pick up the tee and don’t worry about it.

“Here you worry about it. Please bounce straight. I got two bad bounces today and also got a couple of good breaks too.

“But from that standpoint it’s a little bit more stressful than most tournaments we play because good shots aren’t always rewarded by being in the fairway.”