Woods given helping hand

Tiger Woods is in sight of the 50th US Tour victory of his career – with a little help from a spectator.

The world number one took a two-shot lead into the final round of the Buick Open at Warwick Hills in Michigan, his first tournament since capturing the Open championship at Hoylake.

But it might have been different had the final drive of his third round not smacked into a fan.

The ball rebounded onto the fairway and Woods hit a 147-yard approach to seven feet for the seventh birdie of his round.

The man was given a signed glove and Woods said afterwards: “That guy is going to have a bad bruise on his hand. He really took one for the team.”

A third successive 66 left him 18 under par, with Robert Allenby, Lucas Glover and Scott Verplank all 16 under and two-time defending champion Vijay Singh in the group one further back.

Two weeks after winning the Open Woods set off in the final round trying to make it 43 times out of 48 that he has turned a 54-hole lead into victory.

In America he is 20 out of 20 for converting a two-stroke advantage into victory.

The finish to yesterday’s play was certainly better than the start. Among the players unable to complete his second round the night before Woods resumed by hooking his tee shot down the long 16th out of bounds.

“It was probably the worst shot I’ve hit in years, just a terrible snap hook,” he said.

With just two more tournaments before the United States Ryder Cup team is decided it was a big day for several players.

Glover lies 13th on the table, while Vaughn Taylor (11th) and Verplank (22nd) had a chance to move up the standings.