Tiger flirts with near perfection but settles for 69

No one has played a bogey-free round at the 107th U.S. Open, but Tiger Woods came the closest Saturday. Blemish-free with two birdies through 17 holes, Woods bogeyed the 18th to finish with a 1-under 69 that left him two behind leader Aaron Baddeley, who shot 71.

By Dave Shedloski, PGATOUR.com Senior Correspondent

OAKMONT, Pa. -- Tiger Woods performed Saturday like the No. 1 player in the world. In other words, it was hardly a round out of character.

Breaking par for the first time in the U.S. Open since the second round of 2004, Woods shot an impeccably punctilious 1-under-par 69 at Oakmont Country Club to put himself squarely in position to capture his third national title. Woods, the reigning British Open and PGA champion, began the sun-splashed day tied for 13th place and ended it in second, just two behind Aaron Baddeley, who has two Open titles of his own -- Australian Opens.

"I felt like I controlled my ball all day," said Woods, who completed 54 holes in 4-over 214. "Whether it was in the fairway or on the greens, I felt like I was in control of my game, which is nice to have on a Saturday of an Open.

"Today was awfully important keeping myself within range or even try to get closer to the lead."

He got closer, all right. Baddeley will need extra sunscreen to keep Woods from burning a hole through him with that deep-set gaze he fixes when he gets into contention. Of course, Baddeley has the edge simply by the fact that Woods, 12-for-12 in holding a 54-hole lead in a major, has never won one in the 28 times he's trailed going into the final round.

That streak figures to end if he manages his game as intelligently as he did Saturday in posting just the sixth sub-par round of the tournament and his first sub-par score since he fired a 69 in the '04 Open at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, N.Y. Woods hit nine of 14 fairways and a few others he barely missed. From there he was able to hit 17 of 18 greens.

His only miss came on the 18th after driving into a fairway bunker. The 20-foot par attempt expired on the lip. When Woods arrived at the ball, he stood over it knock-kneed, reminiscent of the putting style of Arnold Palmer, and tapped it in, smiling to hide his anger.

"I was ticked," said Woods, 31, who was two inches short of being the first player since Aaron Oberholser in the second round of the '05 Open at Pinehurst No. 2 to post a bogey-free round in this championship. "Played so hard not to drop a shot and didn't quite get it done."

One could argue that Woods didn't get it done on the greens with 35 putts. He had just a single one-putt, for birdie at the third, and two-putted for birdie at the par-5 fourth. But he never took more than two putts, always a key in the Open and a significant accomplishment at Oakmont.

"I had a lot of good putts that grazed the edge," he said. "I'd be miffed if I hit bad putts, but I hit good ones, so it's just the way it goes. Obviously it could have been really low, but on these greens, if you look at it, I probably only had two or three putts I could have made."

If the putting didn't quite heed his commands, the long game fell in line splendidly, which was a refreshing departure from Friday's second round when he managed to find just six fairways and 10 greens in shooting 74. A bit of extra labor on the range Friday night with instructor Hank Haney paid off handsomely on what is traditionally known in golf as "moving day."

Woods, winner of the Open in 2000 and '02, not only moved, but he undoubtedly shook things up, too.

"It felt good," said Woods, seeking his fourth victory of the season and 13th career major title. "Yesterday, it felt a touch loose at times, and just wanted to tighten it up and make sure everything is good to go for today. Really felt good about it. I had a good warm-up session today, and I went on the first tee and just tried to pretend it was just like the range."

Now he's in range for major championship 13. Acquiring it would hardly be out of character.