Monday, October 2 2006 17:23 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

The Grove: Three birdies in his first four holes saw Jim Furyk leap from the pack in pursuit of Tiger Woods in the final round of the World Golf Championship event here at The Grove on Sunday but the world number one was still in control.

Woods took a six-shot lead into the last day, after a tournament record three round total of 194, ahead of Australia's Adam Scott with Furyk a further shot back in third.



Scott birdied the first to cut the deficit to five but a bogey on the par-4 third where he found trouble off the tee saw him drop back. Furyk holed a ten-footer at the first, had two-putt birdie at the par-5 second and rolled in a 20-foot putt at the par-3 fourth to go three-under for the day.

With such a huge lead Woods did not need to play aggressively and he started with a solid four at the first and a birdie at the second.

Just as Furyk got to within five shots Woods restored his advantage to six when he made a 12-foot birdie putt at the fifth.

The omens were not good for the players pursuing Woods. Before Sunday he had led going into the final round of 40 tournaments and won 37 of them in major championships he has won all 12 times he has been leading after three rounds.

He has also won 11 of 21 previous World Golf Championship events, including three out of the last four and victory here would make give him his eighth PGA Tour win of the season, something only he (1999 and 2000), Vijay Singh (2004) and Johnny Miller (1974) have achieved.

In what looks likely to be the race for second place South Africa's Ernie Els moved up the leaderboard, going to 12-under par for the tournament after eight holes that included three birdies and Ian Poulter was level with him after birdying the third and the fifth.

Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee was also having a good day.

He was three-under for the day after 13 holes and in a tie for 17th place but David Howell, who is trying to overhaul Paul Casey at the top of the European Order of Merit was going backwards with bogies at the third and the seventh seeing him fall down the field.

Casey, who has struggled all week after winning the World Matchplay and being in the Ryder Cup, was level par for the day after eight but down in 57th place ahead of only Gregory Bourdy of France and Toru Taniguchi from Japan.