Woods takes 1-stroke lead

Tiger Woods, looking to end his long victory drought, took a one-stroke lead over Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell into Sunday's final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational after shooting a one-under 71 on Saturday.

“As a whole I played well,” Woods told reporters. “I hit a lot of good shots and was just very consistent.”

The former world number one, searching for his first win on the PGA Tour since September 2009, had a four-stroke lead before a bogey on the 14th and a double-bogey on the next where he drove out of bounds into a neighbouring garden.

Woods revealed that shot had been the result of a scream from a woman in the crowd after a teenager fainted and that the noise came as he was already committed to his shot.
“It happened midway on my downswing and I tried to stop it but I had passed the point of no return. I stopped it and flipped it out of bounds,” he told reporters.

“It was a solid day. Just happened to have one little fluke thing where a kid passed out.”
A birdie on the par-five 16th restored some calm to Woods's round but McDowell kept up the pressure with a birdie on the par-three 17th, where he hit his tee shot to six feet from the hole on his way to posting 71.  Woods stood on 11-under 205 through 54 holes at a course where he has won six times.  Woods has a 37-2 record in tour events when leading into the final round. At Bay Hill, five of Woods’ six victories have come after he held the 54-hole lead leaving him ideally placed to finally get his 72nd tour win.