No one conceding title to Tiger

HOYLAKE, England — His 3-foot birdie putt safely in the hole, Tiger Woods was right where he wanted to be Saturday in the British Open.

His name was atop the leaderboard after three rounds at Royal Liverpool.

And everyone knows the world's No. 1 player has never lost a 54-hole lead in a major championship.

But if Woods had bothered to look at the flags of 34 countries rippling in the gentle breeze above the grandstands on the 18th hole, he might have noticed that none of them was white.

Sergio Garcia wasn't about to surrender, not after a 65 that brought him within one shot of Woods and gave him a spot in the final pairing with a guy he has been chasing for seven years.

Ernie Els played his worst golf of the week while playing with Woods and held his own with a 71, also leaving him one shot behind. He was joined by Chris DiMarco, who shot 68 and then bristled when reminded of Woods' 10-0 record with the lead going into the final round of a major.

"Stats don't lie. Obviously, he's a pretty good front-runner, and usually he's got a five- or six-shot lead," DiMarco said. "Tomorrow, he has a one-shot lead. You would have thought he'd be 4 or 5 under right now, and he's not.

"But the guy has a knack for winning, so it's going to be tough to beat him."

Woods made it tougher on himself by struggling on the greens, three-putting three times over the final eight holes to keep himself from turning this British Open into another runaway. He had to birdie the 18th for a 71 to get into the final pairing and build the slimmest of leads.

And he knew it.

"Just take away my three-putts, I would have a four-shot lead," Woods said.

Instead, he was at 13-under 203 and will be in the final group with Garcia, a 26-year-old Spaniard who now has his best chance ever to capture a major.

Garcia holed out a 9-iron from 167 yards for eagle on No. 2, took only 29 shots on the outward nine and never faded. It will be his first time in the final group of a major since he was four shots behind Woods in the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.

"I did what I had to do to give myself a chance," Garcia said.

Everyone else did just enough to turn this British Open into a wide-open affair.