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After three rounds at the Masters, Woods has sandwiched a pair of 75s around a 69 and is 3-over par, nine shots behind leaders Chris DiMarco and Phil Mickelson.

"It's frustrating because I'm so close," Woods said. "On this course, you pay the price. When I put myself in position, I didn't make them."

After shooting a nondescript 38 on the front nine, Woods double-bogeyed the 13th and bogeyed the 14th. He was able to make a birdie on Nos. 15 and 17, but that wasn't enough to move him up the board.

"The middle of the back nine hurt me a lot," Woods, a three-time Masters winner, said. "I knew if I could birdie the two par 5s, it would help."

His strategy for the final round?

"Tomorrow, I want to go out and get a good start on the front nine," he said. "If I can get even or under for the back nine, I'll be right in it. You think anything can happen back there. It's so dangerous on the back nine. I think that when I'm in the lead, too."

Harrington improves

Padraig Harrington, the Irishman who made a strong final-round run at the Players Championship, hasn't been able to get anything going through three rounds at the Masters.

So if he's going to get into contention, it's going to take another spectacular final round.

"I will just try to play my best tomorrow," he said. "Sure, I'd love to be four behind with nine to go on Sunday, but right now there are a lot of people there."

After a pair of 74s, Harrington fired a 68 on Saturday, playing in the first group of the day.

"When you're first, it's different," Harrington said. "It's not like you have the same pressure as the leaders. How often do you get to play Augusta on Saturday morning?"

Eagle for Casey

Casey Wittenberg, the U.S. Amateur runner-up at Oakmont last year, put his name in the Masters history books yesterday.

He recorded an eagle on the 10th hole, one-hopping his approach shot into the hole.

That was only the sixth eagle on that hole in Masters history, the last coming from Jumbo Ozaki in 1999. It was also the first by an amateur on a non-par 5 hole since Danny Green in 2000.

Wet Sunday?

According to the weather forecast, today will not be one of those sun-drenched, spectacular Augusta days.

Clouds rolled in late yesterday afternoon, and showers are expected to be here this morning and thunderstorms are forecast for the afternoon.

In anticipation of that, CBS announced that its coverage would be moved to 1:30 p.m. and that play would be scheduled to end at 6 p.m. instead of 7.

Els wise

Ernie Els finds himself in contention going into the final round of the Masters, three shots behind the leaders at 3 under. He's there, in part, because of an advantageous drop he received after snap-hooking his drive on the 11th hole well into the woods.

When he found his ball, it was on a pile of rubble from trimming that had taken place on trees in that vicinity.

He called for a rules official -- PGA Tour official John Brendel -- who ruled that the junk was not placed there temporarily and he had to play it. Another official was called in who told him the same thing, and finally Els called for Masters Chairman of Competitions Will Nicholson.

"I actually asked for the chairman of the rules committee, and he came out and said that I did get a drop," Els said. "I would say, you know, it was a good drop. But that's why there are rules. To come back to your question, my drops in major championships -- I don't know about the other ones -- but this one was kind of out of the rules, I would say."

Els made a 5, instead of something much worse, after getting the drop.

In 1994, at the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, Els received a major ruling from Trey Holland of the USGA, which said that a crane holding a TV camera could be moved, allowing Els a clear shot to the green from the left rough.

He went on to win the Open in a playoff.

Notables

If DiMarco, Mickelson or Paul Casey win today, it will mark the sixth straight major won by a first-time major winner. ... Mickelson's non-major victory streak is at 46 (42 as a professional); DiMarco is at 17 and Casey at five. ... Keep an eye on the final group today. The winner has come from that pairing each of the past 13 seasons. ... There were three bogey-free rounds yesterday: Stewart Cink, DiMarco and Mickelson. ... Wittenberg is tied for 20th going into the final round and is hoping to finish higher than the tie for 21st that Matt Kuchar had in 1998. ... Among those in the huge galleries this week were: Tri-State Section PGA pros Joe Shorto of Sunnehanna and Jim Antkiewicz of The Club at Nevillewood, CBS-TV college basketball analyst Clark Kellogg, and Totteridge Golf Club owner Tom Tanto.

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