Second 68 leaves Tiger six back at TPC Boston

Continuing his solid play, Tiger Woods shot a 3-under-par 68 Sunday in the third round of the Deutsche Bank Championship at the TPC Boston in Norton, Mass., the second of four events for the FedExCup. He has a 54-hole score of 13-under 200 and is tied for third, six shots behind Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa, who shot 63 and established a new three-round tournament record.

“I had a few nice looks and didn’t make them,” said Woods, who fashioned four birdies and one bogey on a warm, sunny day. “In conditions like this, the course is definitely gettable. Obviously, Louie and Keegan (Bradley) proved that. Hopefully tomorrow and I can go out there and shoot one of those rounds.”

Paired with Ryan Moore, Tiger two-putted the 375-yard, par-4 first hole from 26 feet for a par. He hit a 330-yard drive at the 542-yard, par-5 second, then missed the green with his second shot from 179 yards, fortunate the ball stayed up in the rough above the hazard along the right side of the green. Woods chipped 12 feet past the cup and missed the birdie attempt.

At the 295-yard, par-4 fourth hole, Tiger pulled a 3-wood into the left greenside bunker and drew a lie near the lip of the bunker. With almost no green to work with, he did well to blast 26 feet beyond the hole and just missed his birdie try, Woods dropping to his knees when the ball finished one revolution short of the cup.

Tiger finally broke through with a birdie at the 466-yard, par-4 fifth hole, where he almost holed out his second shot from 143 yards, the ball spinning 12 feet behind the pin. Following a two-putt par from 18 feet at the par-4 sixth, he rolled in an 11-foot birdie putt at the 600-yard, par-5 seventh hole.

Woods parred the eighth and ninth, the latter thanks to a great up-and-down from deep rough left of the green. Tiger sank a 5 1/2-foot putt to make the turn in 2-under 34.

At the par-4 10th, he missed the green from 139 yards, but made a nice par save, chipping to three feet. Woods made his lone bogey of the day at the 203-yard, par-3 11th, where he came up just short of the green with a 6-iron, left his uphill chip 10 feet short of the cup and two-putted.

Tiger followed with three straight pars. He burned the edge of the hole with a 19-foot birdie putt at the par-4 12th, lipped out for birdie from 12 feet at the par-4 13th, then made a nice up-and-down save from behind the green for par at the par-4 14th.

Frustrated with his putting, Woods hit a great approach from 104 yards at the 407-yard, par-4 15th, the ball stopping four feet behind the hole. He converted for a birdie. Tiger made it two in a row with a six-foot birdie putt at the 146-yard, par-3 16th.

Woods two-putted the par-4 17th for a par from 20 feet, then hit a poor tee shot at the reachable-in-two, par-5 18th hole, finding the left rough for the second straight day. That forced him to lay up short of a fronting hazard. From just over 100 yards, Tiger hit his third shot 20 feet short of the hole and just missed his birdie attempt.

“The goal was to put up 15-under,” Woods said. “We thought 15, at the worst, was going to be five back. Now, obviously, I’m going to have to put together a nice round tomorrow.”

Woods hit 72 percent of the greens and 64 percent of the fairways in regulation and used 28 putts. He’ll play with Dustin Johnson in the second-to-last twosome on Monday.

“You gotta get off to a good start and get some momentum going,” said Woods, who won here in 2006. “I’ve done it before.”