Woods holds slight hope after third-round 72

Tiger Woods still gives himself a chance in The Masters, but admits his hopes are hanging by a thread.

“I’m so far back I definitely need help from the guys – and a spectacular final round,” said Woods following a third-round 72 that kept him at three over par.

It promised to be so much better when he birdied the third and fourth, but he then bogeyed the short sixth for the second day running and dropped another shot when he went long on the ninth.

The back nine saw nine successive pars, but he almost certainly needed far more and on the 510-yard 13th – the best eagle chance – he hooked his drive into Rae’s Creek.

The par fives all week tell their own story for Woods. He has played 12 of them now and has had only one birdie.

“I have to take care of the par fives,” he added. “I have just not got going on them.

“I think it’s certainly do-able, but it’s a little bit tricky.”

The four-time champion sounded resigned to missing out, however, when he also said: “That’s the way it goes. You can’t win all the tournaments, but you can try to improve and I just need to continue with the process.”

His third round was certainly an improvement on his second-day 75, where he was so out-of-sorts that he practised afterwards not just until it was dark, but after it was dark.

Commentating on American television, Sir Nick Faldo – himself a three-time Masters winner – had said: “I think we can officially say that Tiger has lost his game and his mind right now”.

The former world number one won his 72nd PGA Tour title by five shots only two weeks ago, but was so disgusted by how he was playing in the first major of the season that he angrily kicked his club away at one point. He could be fined for that, although the PGA Tour do not make public disciplinary actions against its players.

“He has not got a clue how to get the clubface onto the ball,” added Faldo.

“He has become like the rest of us. He’s wasn’t like that – he was paranormal.

“He’s running on sheer frustration right now. There was the Tiger of old, but over the last couple of years things have changed technically, physically and mentally – the whole karma of his life.”

Asked if he thought Woods still had a chance of getting back into contention - he was, after all, seven behind with only one round to go a year ago and charged into a share of the lead before slipping back to fourth – Faldo said: “He’s got to sort it out. He’s got to find some confidence.”

Woods was asked if he had been spoken to about his club-kicking.

“I certainly heard that people didn’t like me kicking the club, but I didn’t like it either,” he said.

“I hit it right in the bunker and didn’t feel good on my toe either.”

There had also been some audible cursing and on that he commented: “Certainly I’m frustrated at times and I apologise if I offended anybody by that.

“But I’ve hit some bad shots and it’s certainly frustrating at times not hitting the ball where you need to hit it.”