Tiger Woods at Greenbrier Classic 2015: Saturday Leaderboard Score, Reaction

Tiger Woods entered Saturday's third round at the Greenbrier Classic on the fringes of the top 25, but he was unable to capitalize on his strong start to the tournament, as he shot a one-over 71.

The 14-time major champion ended his day in a tie for 50th place, seven strokes behind leader Jason Bohn. Here is a rundown of the top of the leaderboard at the conclusion of Woods' round, courtesy of PGATour.com:

Position	Golfer	Total	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
1	Jason Bohn	-11	69	69	61
T2	S.J. Park	-10	68	65	Thru 11
T2	Danny Lee	-10	63	69	Thru 8
T2	Chad Collins	-10	65	67	Thru 6
T2	Bryce Molder	-10	68	64	Thru 6
T6	David Lingmerth	-9	67	70	64
T6	Justin Thomas	-9	67	67	Thru 11
T6	Greg Owen	-9	65	67	Thru 8
T9	11 Golfers	-8	---	---	---

While the 39-year-old veteran was within striking distance of the leaders prior to the third round, he needed an excellent showing reminiscent of his first-round 66 to give himself a chance Sunday.

That ultimately wasn't the case because of Tiger's inconsistency, as seen in this breakdown of his scorecard from Saturday's up-and-down performance:

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In
Par	4	4	3	4	4	4	4	3	4	34
Score	4	3	3	4	4	4	3	4	4	33
Status	-5	-6	-6	-6	-6	-6	-7	-6	-6	-6
Par	4	4	5	4	4	3	4	5	3	36
Score	3	6	5	5	4	2	4	6	3	38
Status	-7	-5	-5	-4	-4	-5	-5	-4	-4	-4

There was plenty of reason for optimism regarding Woods ahead of the third round, as he managed to shoot under-par scores in each of the first two rounds. Such days have been few and far between for him this year, and it seemed as though he was starting to build some momentum.

According to Sky Sports, Tiger believed his struggles at the U.S. Open actually marked the start of a turnaround.

"I felt like I wasn't that far away," Woods said. "I know people think I'm crazy for saying that, but I just felt like I wasn't that far. I just had to make a couple little tweaks, and I felt like I pulled that off."

After playing so well Thursday and Friday, Tiger appeared excited to hit the golf course on Independence Day:

Early indications were good for the former world No. 1, as he set the tone nicely on the opening hole, per Kelly Tilghman of Golf Channel:

Woods parred the first hole, but he followed that up with a birdie on No. 2, which put him at six under for the tourney. It was an encouraging sign, especially considering the relative lack of winning experience of the players ahead of him, according to ESPN.com's Jason Sobel:

Tiger would add another birdie on the par-four seventh, and it appeared as though he was well on his way to matching or bettering the 66 he fired Thursday. Unfortunately, his momentum took a hit on the next hole, as he posted a bogey.

Woods still made the turn at one under on the day, and he got a stroke back on the 10th with his third birdie of the round. That would prove to be one of his final highlights, however, as he played the next three holes at three over par.

The 11th hole was particularly disastrous since Tiger had to settle for a double-bogey after a terrible tee shot that ended up near a fence, as seen in this photo from the PGA Tour's official Twitter account:

The next five holes were a wash, as Woods had three pars with a bogey on the 13th and a birdie on the 15th. All that equaled out to an even-par round entering the 17th hole.

He had an opportunity to keep his run of under-par rounds intact, but he put himself in an extremely tough spot by spraying his tee shot well left on the 17th, per Sobel:

That led to a bogey, which was then followed up by a par on the par-three 18th to finish the day at one over.

As Tilghman pointed out, it was a fairly average outing for Tiger that featured no shortage of ups and downs:

"

Another mixed bag for Tiger Woods. Some good moments, some not so good moments. 71 is the end result. Woods at -4, 7 back.

— Kelly Tilghman (@KellyTilghmanGC) July 4, 2015"

It wasn't an ideal round for Woods by any means, but considering how mightily he struggled entering the Greenbrier Classic, a 71 doesn't look so bad in comparison.

He did some good things Saturday, carding four birdies, but he made too many mistakes, especially off the tee. His driving inaccuracy led directly to three lost strokes on the 11th and 17th holes, and getting those back would have made his day look far better.

Contending for a victory Sunday isn't realistic at this point, but if Tiger can find a way to post another under-par score and come through with a respectable finish, then it could do wonders for his confidence entering The Open Championship in two weeks.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.