La Jolla, CA (My Sportsbook) - The sore knee looked steady, if only for a moment, and Tiger Woods took three hops as the ball rolled towards its destination at the bottom of the cup.
It was only one of the greatest shots in a career highlighted by plenty of them. And he wasn't even finished.
Woods holed a 70-foot downhill eagle putt with six feet of break at the U.S. Open on Saturday just as it looked like he had run out of magic moments.
"I was just trying to lag it down there," said Woods.
Three holes later his chip-shot from the rough beside the 17th green bounced once, hit the flag stick and dropped into the cup for a birdie. Woods could only laugh.
"Just pure luck," he said.
Then, another long eagle putt fell at the 18th hole and the third round at Torrey Pines had not one, not two, but three signature moments.
The shots, all coming in his last six holes, gave Woods an electrifying one- under 70 and handed the world No. 1 the third-round lead -- a position where he has been bulletproof in major championships.
He was at three-under 210 overall and in position to win his 14th major championship on Sunday. He will seeking his third U.S. Open crown and first since 2002.
"I can't wait to get back to my room," Woods said, and who could blame him?
Hobbled by the left knee that required surgery two days after the Masters, Woods used his club as a cane as he made his run at Lee Westwood and Rocco Mediate. Longtime caddy Steve Williams helped him walk onto the 17th green.
All it did was make his amazing finish all the more improbable.
"Nutto up there did all that crazy stuff in front of us," was all Mediate could muster, his once-solid third-round lead a distant afterthought.
Westwood, an Englishman who will try to end Europe's 38-year drought at this major championship, drew Woods as a final-round partner by shooting a 70 that left him one shot back at two-under 211.
Mediate, who held the lead longer than anyone else on Saturday, finished with a 72 and was in third place at one-under 212.
Geoff Ogilvy (72) and D.J. Trahan (73) were knotted in fourth place at one- over 214, and there were just five more players within five shots of Woods' lead.
MORE TO FOLLOW.
