Tiger Woods Lurks 1 Back of Leaders After Front 9 of 2019 Masters 3rd Round

Tiger Woods remains in contention midway through his third round of the 2019 Masters, as a run of three straight birdies put his score at two under for the day and eight under in total, leaving him one behind the group of leaders.

Woods opened Saturday's round with four straight par makes before recording a bogey on the fifth, his third in three days on that hole. He shifted gears from that point on, however, with three birdies in a row before a scramble for par to close out the front nine.

Woods started his third round in fair conditions:

From the first hole, the four-time Masters winner seemed to have some issues with his approach play, leaving himself several long putts. It resulted in a number of two-putt situations and four straight makes for par to start the round.

The 43-year-old's slow start had some fans worried, although his par score through five was the same as his total on Friday at the same point. Tiger Tracker had seen this film before:

But with other players finding plenty of birdies early―most notably Tony Finau, who tied a course record with a score of 30 on the front nine―Woods needed to shift gear in a hurry or risk losing touch with the leaders.

After finding the bunker with his tee shot on the second, Woods again ran into trouble on the fifth, a hole he bogeyed during his first two rounds. He again found the bunker, and this time he was unable to save for par.

It came pretty close to his previous two attempts:

But just like he did on Friday, Woods produced a fantastic shot to put himself within 25 feet on the very next hole and nailed the putt to bring himself back to even:

It was just the spark he needed. Woods launched a great shot down the fairway to start the seventh hole before landing within a foot with an even better second shot:

Fans―and NFL star J.J. Watt―loved it:

An easy putt got him to seven under, just two shots behind Finau at the time.

Woods could seemingly do nothing wrong at this point, blasting another great approach shot to give himself a chance at eagle. His putt from about 10 feet out missed, but with the simple birdie he put himself just a single shot off the lead heading for the ninth.

He ran into a snag on the final hole of the front nine, powering his ball into the trees on the side of the course. He had a window, however:

He came up just a little short of the green but was money with his scramble, saving par to end the front nine at two under for the day and eight under in total, one shot out of the lead.