ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Sports Network) -- Tiger Woods' woes continued at the PGA Championship Saturday. He posted a 3-over-par 73 and is tied for 43rd place at 9-over-par 219.
"I played my tail off to shoot three-over today," said Woods, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2003. "I really did. I grinded my butt off just to shoot three-over."
Things went bad for Woods quickly Saturday as his tee ball at No. 1 found Oak Hill's impossible rough on the right side. He chipped out to the fairway, knocked his third to eight feet but missed the putt.
At the second, Woods once again drove into the right rough but muscled his second into the left edge of the fairway. He wedged his approach to 20 feet but failed to save par, bogeying his second hole in a row.
Woods missed a 12-footer for par at seven and bogeyed the ninth for the second time this week to make the turn at plus-four 39.
Woods finally tallied a birdie at the 14th when he sank a 12-footer. After the putt fell, Woods raised his arms and bowed to the crowd. All in jest for the seemingly defeated No. 1 player in the world.
"It's just one thing after another, and you start laughing at it," said Woods. "Just, what else can go wrong? And you try to be as positive as possible and you try to be as focused and you're grinding your tail off. And shots you hit well are just not working out, and shots you hit poorly you are not getting any breaks. Consequently, you can't get any momentum going."
Woods birdied the 15th but bogeyed 18 when he missed the fairway off the tee.
So it looks like Woods will go majorless in 2003, something that hasn't happened since 1998. In fact, the last time Woods was majorless heading into the PGA Championship was 1999, when he went on to outduel Sergio Garcia for the Wanamaker Trophy.
"I've done it before. I did it in '98. It won't be the last time and it certainly has not been the first time," said Woods, referring to his 2003 campaign without one of golf's big four. "You're going to go years where you just don't win. That's okay, as long as you keep trying to improve."
PLAYING CAPTAIN: American Ryder Cup captain Hal Sutton, the 1983 PGA Champion, fired a 3-under 67 on Saturday to put himself in the mix. He stands at 3-over-par 213 and is tied for 12th.
"I think we'll be in the ballgame at the end of the game," said Sutton. "All you can do tomorrow is go tee it up on that first tee and put it in the fairway from there."
In most instances, when a player is named Ryder Cup captain, he's in the twilight of his career. Sutton thinks otherwise and felt his game was coming along heading into Oak Hill.
"I said at the beginning of the week I wanted to elevate my expectations," said Sutton. "My game was beginning to elevate itself and I wanted to expect the same from it and that's what I tried to do this week."
TOUGHEST TEST: The hardest hole through three rounds at Oak Hill Country Club is the 495-yard, par-4 17th, playing to a stroke average of 4.6. The easiest hole of the championship has been the 571-yard, par-five fourth hole, which has played to an average of 5.0, the first time all week that a hole has played to par or better.
FINAL COUNTDOWN: After Sunday's final round, the Presidents Cup teams will be finalized. For the Americans, Charles Howell III is currently 10th on the points list with Fred Funk in 12th. Those two are part of a group in eighth place at Oak Hill.
WATCHING THE WEATHER: Saturday's action featured the first weather-related problem. A warning was posted on scoreboards around 8:45 a.m. ET but was taken down several hours later. Play was not stopped at all.
RALLY MAN: Mike Weir, who is three shots back in third place, has won all six of his PGA Tour events from behind.
FIRST TIME, BEST TIME?: Shaun Micheel, one of the third-round co-leaders, is participating in his first PGA Championship. The last player to win in his first try was John Daly in 1991.
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