Woods - on the brink again.

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Tiger Woods stands on the verge of his 13th major as he heads into the final day of the USPGA Championship at Southern Hills with a three-shot lead over his rivals.

The world number one, who famously has won all of his major titles when he has had 54-hole lead, carded a one-under-par 69 to move to seven under to stay ahead of second-placed Stephen Ames, who had a 69 with Woody Austin another shot back after a 69 of his own.

John Senden (69) is two under and Ernie Els (69) at one under with no other players in red numbers.

Woods did not match the fireworks of his second-round 63 but a controlled display means he is now just 18 holes away from defending his PGA Championship title and avoiding a major-less year for only the fourth time in a professional career dating back to 1997.

The world number one played the front nine of his third round in one under par with a birdie at the par-four fourth and a couple of nice par-saving putts at the sixth and eighth.

Another birdie at the 12th took him five shots ahead and only a bogey at 14 kept this from becoming a rout, having begun the day with a two-stroke advantage.

Of the six previous majors played at Southern Hills, each has been won by the 36-hole leader. With Woods' history, that record is likely to be extended to seven.

The world number one played well within himself, knowing others had to shoot low if he did not make a mistake.

"I accomplished my goal today. My goal was to shoot under par and increase my lead and I was able to do that so it was a positive day all around," said Woods.

"I only made one bogey today, which was good, and I really kept myself out of trouble most of the day.

"I just tried to keep hitting fairways and put the ball in the centre of the greens and lag putt well. I tried not to leave myself a second putt because the greens aren't very smooth out there so I never really tried to take a run at any putts."

Woods knows his rivals are well aware of his record leading on the final day of a major and he will use that to his advantage.

"I've always enjoyed being out in front and hopefully tomorrow I can go ahead and play the way I've been playing the last few days," he added.

"I felt like I've really controlled my golf ball around the golf course. I'm in good shape going into tomorrow and hopefully I can get it done."

South African Els has already virtually conceded defeat to Woods.

"The statistics will tell you, yes it's over, but as a competitor, I can't sit here and tell you it's over," Els said.

"If I was not a golfer, a fan on the couch, I'd be putting my house on him."

Boo Weekley livened up the early action with a superb round and a mistake that, in part, led to the disqualification of Sergio Garcia.

Boo Weekley came to the 18th hole needing a birdie for a 63 but he left himself a long attempt and three-putted for a bogey and a five-under 65.

However, it was enough to give him the clubhouse lead at level par along with Nathan Green, KJ Choi and Kevin Sutherland. Trevor Immelman moved to one over for the championship with a 66.

Garcia would have had a 74 to fall to nine-over but he signed an incorrect scorecard and was disqualified.

Weekley put Garcia down for a four on the 17th hole after Garcia had, in fact, bogeyed the hole and the Spaniard did not catch the mistake when he checked his scorecard before signing it.

"It's my fault for putting the wrong score in, but it's his fault for not checking," Weekley said.

"I just said, 'Sergio, I put a four but in fact you had a five.' He said, 'That just puts the icing on the cake'."

Colin Montgomerie struggled to a three-over 73 that included five bogeys and left him at eight over.

Darren Clarke was at one under with three holes to play he finished with a pair of bogeys for a 71.

"You work all day to get under par and then finish bogey-bogey," Clarke said. "I was going nicely. I am definitely getting there."

Justin Rose (70), Luke Donald (70) were both three over while fellow Englishmen Ian Poulter (70) was one shot back with Paul Casey (74) six over after a homeward nine of 40.

Collated third-round scores (USA unless stated, par 70):

203 Tiger Woods 71 63 69

206 Stephen Ames (Can) 68 69 69

207 Woody Austin 68 70 69

208 John Senden (Aus) 69 70 69

209 Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 68 69

210 Arron Oberholser 68 72 70, Nathan Green (Aus) 75 68 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 72 68 70, KJ Choi (Kor) 71 71 68, Boo Weekley 76 69 65, Kevin Sutherland 73 69 68, Scott Verplank 70 66 74

211 Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 75 70 66, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 69 68 74

212 Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 71 69, Sean O'Hair 70 72 70

213 John Daly 67 73 73, Anders Hansen (Den) 71 71 71, Justin Rose (Eng) 70 73 70, Steve Flesch 72 73 68, Ken Duke 73 71 69, Luke Donald (Eng) 72 71 70, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 73 68 72

214 Steve Stricker 77 68 69, Tim Herron 75 68 71, Stewart Cink 72 70 72, Heath Slocum 72 70 72, Darren Clarke (NIrl) 77 66 71, Bob Tway 71 72 71, Joe Durant 71 73 70, Shaun Micheel 73 71 70, Ian Poulter (Eng) 71 73 70, Corey Pavin 74 68 72, Camilo Villegas (Col) 69 71 74, Troy Matteson 72 69 73, Brandt Snedeker 74 71 69, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 69 73 72

215 Kenny Perry 72 72 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 70 71 74, Richard Green (Aus) 72 73 70, Brett Wetterich 74 71 70, Graeme Storm (Eng) 65 76 74, Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 76 67 72

216 Pat Perez 70 69 77, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 74 72, Bart Bryant 74 70 72, David Toms 71 74 71, Simon Dyson (Eng) 73 71 72, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72 72 72, Paul Casey (Eng) 72 70 74, Will MacKenzie 72 70 74, Hunter Mahan 71 73 72, Anthony Kim 73 72 71, Brett Quigley 76 67 73, Paul McGinley (Irl) 74 66 76

217 Phil Mickelson 73 69 75, Charles Howell III 75 70 72

218 Chad Campbell 77 68 73, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 71 68 79, Colin Montgomerie (Sco) 72 73 73, Tom Lehman 73 71 74, Lee Westwood (Eng) 69 74 75

219 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 73 71 75, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 75 74, Lucas Glover 70 75 74, Todd Hamilton 73 72 74

220 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 73 71 76, Billy Mayfair 76 69 75, Frank Lickliter II 70 75 75

221 Mike Small (Eng) 73 70 78, Brian Bateman 71 74 76

223 Ryan Benzel 71 72 80