Australian Open: Woods falters in 3rd round

Saturday brought some disappointing news for golfing icon Tiger Woods' fans as he faltered in the third round of Australian Open.

Unable to recover from a rocky start, Tiger Woods slipped to a 3-over-par 75 on Saturday in the third round of the Emirates Australian Open at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney, Australia, his site mentioned.

Woods, who began the day with a one stroke lead on the field, fell into a tie for eighth at 6-under 210, six strokes behind leader John Senden.

Woods bogeyed the first three holes and struggled on the greens. He also played the four par-5s in even-par. "I just got off to an awful start," said a disappointed Woods. "The round should have been an easy 71, no problem. I played the par-5s bad. But if I take care of the par-5s and make a couple of putts, it´s a 1- or 2-under round. But I made nothing today."

Paired with Peter O´Malley, Woods hit a nice long iron off the par-4 first tee, but his second shot carried over the green and he wound up missing a 15-foot par putt. At the par-4 second, Woods drove way left into the eighth fairway and got an unlucky bounce with his approach shot, the ball bouncing over the green. A poor flop shot rolled 30 feet past the cup and he two-putted.

At the long, par-4 third, he hit a driver into the waste area on the right and was left with a difficult second shot out of sand and clumpy grass. His approach came up well short of the putting surface and his pitch shot scampered 15 feet beyond the hole, resulting in a third-straight bogey.

Woods regained a shot at the par-4 fourth, converting a seven-foot birdie putt. He parred the next five holes to make the turn in 2-over 37.

The easier back nine proved even more challenging. Woods failed to make a short birdie putt at the par-4 10th, then hit a poor tee shot left at the par-5 11th, eventually two-putting for a bogey from 45 feet.

At the par-4 12th, Woods pulled his second shot into a greenside bunker and was unable to save par. He failed to birdie the short par-4 13th, when his second shot hung up on a hill behind the green instead of releasing back toward the cup.

Woods did manage to birdie the par-5 14th hole, then closed with four consecutive pars. Despite the rough round, he remained positive about Sunday´s final round and didn´t rule out a comeback.

"I need to play well on that front nine," Woods said.