Charlie Wi fired a bogey-free three-under par 69 on Saturday to hold onto a slim lead but hard-charging Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson climbed into contention at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
South Korea’s Wi, chasing his first win on the PGA Tour, was at 15-under 199 with a three-shot lead after playing the more difficult Spyglass Hill course on Saturday at the $US6.4 million ($A5.96 million) tournament.
Wi started his third round with a three-shot lead but saw that slowly shrink as some major firepower rocketed up the leaderboard, including 14-time major winner Woods and three-time Pebble Beach champion Mickelson.
Mickelson and Woods will be part of a marquee group on Sunday that includes Woods’ amateur playing partner, NFL Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo. Wi will be paired with American Ken Duke in the final group off the first tee.
Duke is alone in second after shooting a five-under 65 on the Monterey Peninsula course, considered the easiest of the three in the rotation.
Woods rediscovered his putting on Saturday to shoot a five-under 67 on Pebble Beach Links and was four strokes back of Wi in third at 11-under 203.
Mickelson was part of a group of five players tied for fourth at nine-under after his two-under 70 on Pebble Beach. Kevin Na (70) and Dustin Johnson (70) are also at nine-under, six strokes adrift of Wi.
Australians Aaron Baddeley (69) and Geoff Ogilvy (68) had a share of 12th, eight shots off the pace at 7-under.
Wi, in his seventh year on the PGA Tour, has four runner-up finishes in his PGA Tour career but no victories. His nine wins have all come internationally.
Wi, who turned 40 last month, is the first to admit he has a history of folding when leading going into the final round but he is working on the issue.
“I definitely caught myself getting ahead today but I was able to get back to what I was doing and I was really happy about that,” he said.
Woods, chasing his first US tour victory since 2009, charged up the leaderboard with one stretch of five birdies in six holes on the front nine.
“Even though my game was slightly off today it is not as off as it used to be,” Woods said. “I made a few putts and got it rolling. I had a nice stretch there where I probably could have birdied six holes in a row.”
Mickelson knows that he has a lot of ground, six strokes, to make up on Sunday to catch Wi. In 2005, he became the only wire-to-wire winner in Pebble Beach tournament history.
“I am quite a few shots back but I know that on this golf course you can come out and get a quick start and make some birdies,” Mickelson said. “If I can get a hot hand early I can make a run at the leaderboard.”
