Tiger Woods Impresses with 4 Under in 3rd Round of 2019 ZOZO Championship

Tiger Woods maintained his lead at the ZOZO Championship in Chiba, Japan, on Sunday (Saturday Eastern Daylight Time) with a four-under 66 to take a three-shot lead over Hideki Matsuyama entering the final round.

Woods, who is leading a 78-player field at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club at 16 under, birdied five holes between the third and 11th and cruised to a comfortable lead in search of his first tournament win since the 2019 Masters.

Per Justin Ray of the 15th Club, Woods' 194 through three rounds is tied for the third-best mark in his career. It's also his best since 2007.

The putter was on fire en route to a few birdies:

Per Bob Harig of ESPN, the short game and irons were also on point:

Tiger Tracker posted some final third-round stats:

The 15-time major winner has led or co-led the tournament wire-to-wire. He and 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland led the tournament with a six-under 64 after the first round, but Woods shot another 64 to give himself a two-shot lead over the nearest challenger heading into moving day.

The 81-time PGA Tour winner continued to do work on Saturday, and now a win seems inevitable given his three-shot lead.

PGATour.com senior editor Sean Martin tweeted a stat showcasing Woods' dominance when leading by three strokes or more after three rounds:

Woods isn't in the clear just yet, however, with a talented group of golfers within striking distance.

Matsuyama is three shots back, and Woodland had a birdie at the last to move to 12 under and solo third.

Xander Schauffele, Billy Horschel and Corey Conners are all at 11 under, and Rory McIlroy posted the day's best round with a seven-under 63 to move to 10 under.

Woods is the clear favorite, however, and he would tie Sam Snead's PGA Tour wins record with 82 with a victory.