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Laird three clear at The Barclays

Sat 28th, August 2010

Paramus, NJ (Sports Network) - Scotland's Martin Laird carded a six-under 65 in the third round Saturday to grab a three-stroke lead at The Barclays.

Laird, who won the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last year, completed 54 holes at 12-under-par 201.

Second-round leader Jason Day managed a one-under 70, but slipped into a share of second place at minus-nine. He was joined there by Dustin Johnson (64), who is playing for the first time since a penalty cost him a spot in the playoff at the PGA Championship.

Day's fellow Australian Adam Scott carded a three-under 68 to move into fourth place at eight-under-par 205.

Tiger Woods was unable to overcome a triple-bogey on the first hole, where his drive soared out of bounds. He birdied the last two holes at Ridgewood Country Club to shoot one-over 72, which dropped him into a share of 28th at three- under-par 210.

Woods also dropped a shot on the ninth to make the turn at even-par for the tournament. He atoned for that error with a birdie on the 13th. Woods also birdied the last two holes to get back to minus-three.

"In the end, it is probably going to cost me a chance to win the tournament," Woods said of the triple-bogey. "But I'm pleased how I sucked it up and got it back the rest of the day when it easily could have gone the other way."

Laird flew into contention early on the front nine. He sank a seven-footer for birdie on two and followed with a 28-foot birdie putt at the third.

The Scotsman made it three in a row as he birdied the fourth from off the green. Laird ended his birdie run on No. 5, where he kicked in a three-footer to move to 10-under.

"I got off to a great start. The course was definitely playing tougher today," said Laird. "The greens started to get kind of how I remembered them a couple of years ago and how I like them, nice and firm and fast. I felt comfortable out there all day."

Laird remained there with four straight pars. He tapped in another three- footer for birdie on No. 10 to gain a share of the lead with Day. Laird ran off six consecutive pars from the 11th and took the lead on his own as Day struggled on the back nine.

The 27-year-old Laird got up and down for birdie on the 17th to push his lead to three.

"It's a weird week. I'm not driving the ball very good," Laird admitted. "Hitting four or five loose ones a day. I made some good key par putts to keep it going. I've been playing well for the last month."

Johnson has climbed back into contention after being assessed a penalty on the last hole of the PGA Championship, which cost him a spot in the playoff. Earlier in the year, Johnson played in the final group at the U.S. Open, but tumbled out of contention with an 82.

The 26-year-old missed the cut at the AT&T National after stumbling in the U.S. Open, but has four top-20 finishes since.

Johnson birdied the third and turned in five-under after birdies on eight and nine. On the par-five 13th, he rolled in an eagle putt from just inside 20 feet to jump to seven-under. He followed that with birdies on 16 and 17 to climb into share of second.

"Any time you can play this golf course with no bogeys you're doing pretty good," stated Johnson. "If I can play like I did today, there's not too much out of reach."

Day opened with a bogey, but came right back with birdies on the second and third. A chip-in birdie on the par-four fifth gave him a one-shot lead.

The Australian carded four bogeys to go with two birdies between the ninth and 16th. Those dropped shots cost him the lead.

"I'd like to be a little higher, a little closer to Martin going into tomorrow, but that just shows I need to work little harder," Day said. "I'm just very positive that I stayed in there, stayed patient and came out with one-under. It probably could have been worse, but I tried to grind it out as much as I possibly could."

NOTES: Defending champion Heath Slocum carded a one-under 70 and is tied for 12th at five-under-par 208...Woods needs to finish tied for 59th or better to advance to next week's second playoff event, the Deutsche Bank Championship...If Laird, Johnson and Day maintain their current positions after the final round, they would stand first, second and third in the FedEx Cup standings.