Mickelson on home straight

Phil Mickelson eased into two-stroke lead more than halfway through the final round at the Players Championship today.

Mickelson hardly made a mistake in 14 holes, picking up four birdies to go to 12 under par with four holes to play in ideal conditions at the Sawgrass TPC.

Fellow American Sean O’Hair, who started the day one stroke ahead of Mickelson, could not keep pace, despite two birdies and one bogey in 14 holes.

It appeared to be a two-horse race, with Spaniard Sergio Garcia in third place after storming home with four consecutive late birdies for a 66.

"I got really hot from 14 on," said Garcia, who hit all but one green in regulation, finishing at nine-under 279.

However, he could only rue the double bogey he made to end the third round, wondering what might have been.

Luke Donald, the only British player within striking distance at the start of the day, never got his charge off the launch pad, dropping two shots in 15 holes to plunge all the down to three-under.

Mickelson, who recently switched to coach Butch Harmon, was in fine form early on, splitting the fairway with three of his first four drives.

He birdied the first two holes and added further birdies at the par-four seventh and par-five 11th to put a little distance between himself and O’Hair.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods finally produced the sort of form that had eluded him all week, shooting a five-under-par 67.

It was too little, too late to have any real meaning, but to listen to Woods, his long game was in pretty good shape all week, not that he could say the same about his putting.

"I knew I could shoot a round in the 60s if I’d just make a few putts, and today I did," the world number one said after posting an even-par 288 total to avoid his worst finish in 11 starts here.

Woods was in a considerably better mood than after his previous round, when he did not stop to talk to the media, or anyone else for that matter.

"I was just tired of hitting good putts and having them all lip out, because I didn’t feel like I was playing that poorly," he continued.

"I had eight lip-outs yesterday. I was tired of it. Good putts weren’t going in. I was really frustrated".

Woods decided to take less time reading the putts during the final round, and it seemed to pay off as he made as he made five birdies and an eagle.

He added: "Because the greens are new, I’m not used to reading them yet. Today, I just said ’go with your first instinct and hit it and be aggressive’.

"I went for a more aggressive approach and I started making putts".

Woods claimed his long game was better this week than at last week’s Wachovia Championship, which he won.

He also revealed his left knee, on which he had surgery more than four years ago, was bothering him, both while walking and during his swing.

Woods is not used to teeing off at 9.25am on a Sunday, and the local fans in Bible-belt country had to choose between church and watching the world’s greatest player on an overcast morning in north Florida.

Woods made a sloppy start in the ideal conditions with a double-bogey at the par-four fourth hole, failing to clear the water hazard guarding the green with his second shot from a fairway bunker.

However, he fought back with a birdie from 10 feet at the next, and soon afterwards reeled off four birdies in a row starting at the par-three eighth.

Later, he eagled the par-five 16th, striking a six-iron from 200 yards to inside 10 feet.