Rose leapfrogged by sensational Singh

Vijay Singh carded a record-breaking round to take the lead at the €4.4m Deutsche Bank Championship.

After opening the tournament with rounds of 70 and 71, Singh entered the third round five shots out of the lead, which was shared by Justin Rose and Robert Allenby.

However Singh’s fortunes changed dramatically after a course record 10-under-par 61.

At 11-under-par 202, Singh has a three-shot lead over Tiger Woods and Rose and renewed confidence after starting the week with a pair of average rounds.

Rose stayed in the hunt with a two-under round of 69.

Singh, delighted by his round, said: “It’s all the hard work paying off, I was grinding so hard and was working on the right things and it’s so nice to see it pay off.

“Today everything just moulded together and it was really fun doing it for a change. The ball was going where I was aiming and the putts were going in.”

The putts were going in early and often for Singh, who managed the best round of his career despite a bogey at the par-four sixth.

The Fijian started birdie-eagle and had three more birdies on the front nine.

Singh kept the round going with consecutive birdies at the 12th and 13th and capped the round with three straight birdies to surpass the 62 he shot in the final round of the 1998 Buick Championship.

In search of his fifth consecutive victory, Woods was three under through seven but then cooled off.

He did not card another birdie until the par-five 18th and is tied for second with Rose at eight-under 205.

Rose bogeyed the second and did not post a birdie until the 13th hole, however he then added further birdies at the 15th and 18th to tie Woods for second.

Woods has extra motivation to run his winning streak to five. Only three players have won five consecutive PGA tournaments – Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and Woods, overlapping 2000 into 2001.

Woods also never has won at the TPC Boston, an event where the proceeds go to the foundation which bears his name.

Last year, he fired an opening 65 to take a one-stroke lead but faded the rest of the way and finished 11 shots back.

He bounced back from a one-over second round with a bogey-free round.

Woods started quickly with birdies on his first two holes, added another at the seventh and closed with a birdie to pull within three of Singh.

Shaun Micheel and JJ Henry each shot 68 and stood at six-under 207.

Allenby (73) dropped into a tie for sixth at four under with Aaron Baddeley (71) and Ryan More (68).