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By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

ATLANTA -- The way Mark Calcavecchia sees it, he's right where he wants to be.

He's playing golf with Tiger Woods on Sunday in the final group at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. Calcavecchia trails by three strokes -- and "that's a pretty big hill to climb," he admitted -- but at least he has a chance.

Mark Calcavecchia knows he has a big hill to climb if he's to beat Tiger Woods on Sunday. (Lecka/Getty Images)

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• Calc shoots 63 at East Lake

"If he was hitting a few foul balls it might help, but every time I turned around he was about 40 yards ahead of Woody Austin in the fairway," Calcavecchia said. "So it's pretty hard to screw up with a pitching wedge into every par 4 and reaching every par 5 easily.

"You never know. Even if I got off to a great start, say I was 4 or 5 under on the front nine, would that make a difference to him? Probably not. I don't see him shooting worse than 65 tomorrow. But you never know."

Calcavecchia isn't exactly ready to wave the white flag, either. After all, he fired a 63 on Saturday that included six birdies, an eagle and just one bogey to move to 16 under and in contention for his second victory of the year.

Not bad for a 47-year-old who first met Woods when the prodigy was just 16 years old. The two were both working with Butch Harmon at the time and Woods was the U.S. Junior champion. A friendship ensued and was cemented after Woods turned pro in 1996.

""We began playing practice rounds," Calcaveccia said. "We both like getting up at the crack of dawn and teeing off in the dark to beat the crowds and the other slow players. So that's kind of how we became friends, so to speak.

"We have a good relationship, but we don't go out to dinner or anything. We can call each other any time or text each other, whatever. I'm sure we'll have fun tomorrow.

"If I play like I did today, I'll have a lot of fun, even if it's not enough. You know, I've just got to play golf. He'll probably keep me relaxed to some degree a little bit. But it's a round of golf with Tiger Woods. ... It's a good spot to be in."

Calcavecchia credited a telephone lesson from Peter Kostis with turning his game around on the eve of the final event in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. He's making his 14th appearance in THE TOUR Championship, dating back to the event's debut in 1987.

The 13-time TOUR champion tied for fourth at The Barclays but finished last in the next two Playoff events. After the strong start at Westchester Country Club, Calcavecchia had broken par only once in the eight rounds leading up to his visit to East Lake.

So he placed the call to Kostis, who was in Lake Tahoe doing an outing, on Wednesday night. "I think he was in an elevator, actually," Calcavecchia said, but once Kostis found a place with better cell reception, the TOUR veteran pled his case.

"I said, I've got the wide rights and when I'm tired of fanning it right, I flip pull hook it," Calcavecchia recalled. "He said, 'I guarantee I know what you're doing.' I said, 'Okay, I'll try that, thanks, I'll do it.'

"In the last two weeks I was dead last, dead last, and that's how fast things change for me in golf. I guess I'm still streaky, huh?"

Kostis told Calcavecchia he probably didn't have enough knee flex and speculated that he was probably too hunched over. The 30-second lesson has paid considerable dividends, too. Calcavecchia has made 18 birdies, one eagle and just four bogeys over the first 54 holes.

"So basically I just tried to get a little more knee flex and stand a little taller, and it was starting to feel pretty good," Calcavecchia said. "I hit some great iron shots today. I haven't seen iron shots like that in a while, so it felt good."

Calcavecchia, who was a teammate of Woods at the 2002 Ryder Cup, even losing an alternate shot match together, has never played with Woods in the final round. He joked that he might need to call Phil Mickelson, who outdueled Woods at the Deutsche Bank Championship after saying Harmon had given him some tips on the tendencies of the game's No. 1 player.

"Maybe he read The Secret," Calcavecchia said with a grin. "Maybe he has the secret secret, double secret. Chip in and make a bunch of putts. I don't know, Phil played great.

"It's a mental hurdle, and how I'll handle it, we'll find out tomorrow. I'm anticipating playing well. There's no reason I shouldn't because of who you're playing with, and I think that's probably what Phil got over.

"You've just got to talk yourself into doing the things you've been doing and go hit it."

Calcavecchia smiled.

"Maybe I'll intimidate him, and he'll be a little extra nervous tomorrow," he said before pausing and gesturing with his right arm. "Strike that from the record. I think he'll be fine."