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Woods stretches his lead at Doral

Tiger Woods set the tone early with a 4-iron that cut through the stiff wind and landed 3.3m away for eagle. He kept everyone at a distance on Saturday by avoiding calamity on the Blue Monster's brutal closing hole.

With only one mistake on a windy day filled with them, Woods shot 4-under 68 and stretched his lead to four shots in the CA Championship, leaving him poised to capture his third straight title at Doral and send him to the US Masters on a high.

About the only intrigue came from Sergio Garcia.

Disgusted after missing another short putt, the 27-year-old Spaniard tapped in for a three-putt bogey and then spit into the cup. Garcia didn't deny this lapse in etiquette, only its effect on the guys playing behind him.

"I just missed the putt and I wasn't too happy," Garcia said. "Don't worry. It did go in the middle [of the cup] and wasn't going to affect anyone else. If it did, I would have wiped it off."

Garcia wound up with a 71 and was seven shots behind, but he had plenty of company.

Woods again wiped out the field with superb shots and by making enough putts to reach 11-under 205. He is 38-3 on the US tour with at least a share of the 54-hole lead, and he has never lost when leading by more than one.

Brett Wetterich had a 67 and was scheduled to play in the final group yesterday.

Along with owning Doral, Woods has won this World Golf Championship the last two years and five out of seven times. He will be trying to win his 13th WGC event since the series began in 1999.

"If you're leading, usually you're playing halfway decent," Woods said.

Nick O'Hern played a bogey-free round of a 66 and was another shot behind at 6-under 210.
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