Tiger prowling ominously for uneasy Ryder

Tiger Woods could not be in more ominous form heading into the Ryder Cup this week at The Belfry. After three rounds of the AmEx World Championship he extended his lead to five strokes over the best field ever assembled in Ireland. He has never lost with a lead of three strokes or more with a round to play, and has won 29 times out of 33 occasions when he has led or tied for the lead after 54 holes.

What is less doubtful is whether Woods really wants to be at The Belfry at all, at least until Friday. The storm whipped up by Woods, after he stated unequivocally there were a million reasons why he would rather win here at Mount Juliet than next weekend and that he would prefer to be in the gym than going to all those dinners and functions, may seem mild by comparison with previous Ryder Cup controversies. But it has managed to sweeten the build-up to a match postponed from last year. Instead of worrying about their pairings for the fourballs and foursomes, the captains, Sam Torrance and Curtis Strange, will be more concerned about their seating arrangements.

There is an old cliché about players on the European Tour going out to dinner together and players on the US tour having room service on their own, but there is more than a hint of truth in it. Thomas Bjorn, who scored a timely 66 yesterday, was quick to point out that the time before Friday's opening day could have a bearing on the destiny of the Cup. "The days leading up to the match are very important in getting the team together," said the Dane.

"The team dinners are not a problem for me. It will be great fun. There is going to be a lot of banter flying around and there is no substitute for that. I think it's your 13th club. I wasn't at Brookline but those who were said Jarmo Sandelin was magnificent even though he did not play on the first two days. He was a fantastic part of the team.

"The way they [the Americans] are talking, it seems we have the edge on them. It seems they don't want to go to the functions but that is one of the strengths of the European team." They think it is all pavlova.

Bjorn and Padraig Harrington, the leading members of the European Ryder Cup team, both finished at 10 under par here but could not get into the top 10 on the leaderboard. Harrington came home in 31, something only matched by Scott McCarron, who had gone out in 33.

The American's 64 lowered by one the course record set on Thursday and equalled on Friday by Woods. McCarron, who has had a pint of Guinness and gone fly-fishing every evening, joined a queue in second place that also included Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen, David Toms, Steve Lowery and Jerry Kelly.

It was another afternoon of glorious sunshine enjoyed by another large gallery. The total of 31,242 was a record for a single-day crowd in the short three-year history of the World Golf Championships and brought the total for the three days to over 72,000.

One of the reasons why the WGC events have yet to take off is the lack of atmosphere created by the sparse galleries at venues such as La Costa, home of the World Matchplay. Yet there is a perception that the tournaments need to be played in America to thrive commercially, and all four will be staged in the States next year.

The numbers who crowded around the first hole when Woods teed off led to an unfortunate incident when a buggy driven by a member of the tournament staff injured three people, the worst suffering a broken ankle. Woods, as he was the previous day when a man collapsed with a suspected heart attack on the first tee, was unaffected by the incident, if not unconcerned.

Without playing quite as well as on Friday, Tiger duly extended his lead by birdieing all four of the par-fives and then firing in his approach at the last to four feet for his first birdie at a par-four.

His 67 was the third round in a row when he had not dropped a shot, although he did need to hole from six feet for a par after missing the green at the 13th. On the next hole, a par-three, his birdie putt lipped out, to his chagrin.

Earlier, Darren Clarke revealed that Woods had helped him on the range. Clarke also had Singh and Nick Price give him the once-over after he found himself propping up the field after 36 holes. A 70 was the result before the Irishman went back to the range for more hard labour.