Harrington, Howell lead Woods pursuit
Tiger Woods missed putts of seven and six feet on the opening two greens and had his lead cut to "only" four when the American Express World Championship resumed at The Grove near Watford today.
European Ryder Cup pair David Howell and Padraig Harrington were the pair who narrowed the gap, Howell with an opening birdie and the Dubliner by picking up shots at the second and third.
World number one and defending champion Woods, halfway to a sixth consecutive strokeplay win after brilliant rounds of 63 and 64, had to be content with two opening pars, taking three from the edge of the green at the long second.
He remained 15 under par while Howell and Harrington were 11 under and Americans Jim Furyk, Stewart Cink and Brett Quigley were all 10 under.
Howell went aggressively over the trees into a greenside bunker on the 379-yard dogleg first, then played a brilliant 30-yard sand shot to within three feet of the flag.
He was kicking himself for three-putting the second for only a par, however, while Harrington was also on in two there and two-putted before making a 12-footer at the next.
They knew they still faced a Herculean task, however. Woods is a master at defending a lead.
Meanwhile, the threat of bad weather led to organisers bringing forward the final round tee-off times tomorrow.
With thunderstorms forecast, the leaders will now tee off almost three hours earlier than planned at 10.37am local time.
Play will start at 9am local time off the first and 10th tees.
