San Diego (United States) (AFP)

Tiger Woods, in search of an 83rd record title on the PGA circuit, points to five shots from the Spaniard Jon Rahm, new leader of the Farmers Insurance Open after the 3rd round disputed Saturday in San Diego, where Rory McIlroy made a beautiful close.

After his difficult second day, "Le Tigre" pulled himself together by returning a card of 69 which allows him to total -7 and stay in touch for the final victory. But he will have to be very efficient on Sunday to hope to win and overtake Sam Snead at the top of the classification of the greatest number of victories (82).

"I'm going to have to hit the ball well. I will have to do a lot of good shots, hoping that will be enough," said the 44-year-old who has had a lot of success in the past on this Torrey Pines course where he has triumphed eight times: seven times to remove this tournament, another time to win the US Open in 2008.

He will also be able to draw on the excellent first part of his course of the day when he scored 4 birdies in nine holes. Author of a bogey on the following nine, he took over the rest of the time despite going through the rough (tall grass) and the bunker.

"It was important to catch up after this bogey, to stay in touch for tomorrow," he wanted to positivize.

The American is still five lengths from Jon Rahm, author of the best card of the day (65) thanks to six birdies. The Spaniard is suddenly ahead of Ryan Palmer, leader so far, and three Rory McIlroy who recovered even better than Woods after their outbursts of the day before, scoring six birdies for a bogey.

"I hit the ball well on the tee. I gave myself good opportunities. If you know how to be patient, things can end up going well here," said the Northern Irishman, who in case victory Sunday, will again become world number 1 for the first time since 2015.

Classification after the 3rd round (par 72)

1. Jon Rahm (ESP) -12 (68-71-65)

2. Ryan Palmer (USA) -10 (72-62-71)

3. Rory McIlroy (NIR) -9 (67-73-67)

. Kang Sung-Hoon (KOR) -8 (69-71-67)

. Harry Higgs (USA) -8 (70-68-69)

. Cameron Champ (USA) -7 (71-68-68)

7. Sebastian Cappelen (DEN) -8 (66-71-71)

. Tony Finau (USA) -8 (70-70-68)

. John Bradley Holmes (USA) -8 (68-69-71)

. Marc Leishman (AUS) -8 (68-72-68)

. Tyler McCumber (USA) -8 (72-68-68)

. Patrick Reed (USA) -8 (69-69-70)

. Brandt Snedeker (USA) -8 (69-67-72)

14. Tiger Woods (USA) -7 (69-71-69)

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