A year after injuring leg, Woods back in the hunt

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Tiger Woods is four strokes behind the leaders heading into the final round at the Memorial Tournament.

DUBLIN, Ohio -- He wasn't pleased by that three-putt bogey at the 17th hole, which he called "just a terrible mistake," but Tiger Woods couldn't help but be satisfied by his performance on Saturday.

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"I put myself back in the tournament," Woods said simply.

Of course, if you're one of the other 70 players who made the cut in the Memorial Tournament, those aren't exactly words you're happy to hear.

The world No. 1 rode Saturday's round of 68 from a tie for 27th into a share of seventh, four shots off the lead held by Matt Bettencourt and Mark Wilson at 9 under. He'll play with Michael Letzig, three groups behind the leaders, at 1:15 on Sunday afternoon.

"I hit the ball decent all day," Woods said. "Hit a lot of good putts. Had to be patient. The wind was all over the place. It was hard to get a bead on where it was coming from. The intensity is one thing, but we couldn't even figure out direction sometimes."

On Sunday, though, Woods will have a single destination in mind. He's bidding for his fourth Memorial title and his first since winning three straight starting in 1999.

Woods has come from behind to win in 19 of his 63 stroke play events. His largest comeback is five strokes, accomplished twice, most recently at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard when he overtook Sean O'Hair.

"I have to play well," Woods said. "That's the difference between being out front and trailing. If you're out front, you play poorly, getting off to a poor start, you can still win the golf tournament. If you're trailing and you get off to a poor start, you can play yourself out of the golf tournament.

"I need to get ... it going early, and see where it puts me throughout the day."

Woods didn't get to play in the Memorial last year. He had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee after the 2008 Masters and was still experiencing some pain prior to the commitment deadline. So he went to the doctor and had some x-rays.

"Oh yeah, you've got two fractures in there," Woods recalled the doctor's diagnosis. "Probably not a good idea to play."

Turns out, the stress fractures developed as Woods was practicing for the Memorial -- not during the U.S. Open two weeks later.

"My leg wasn't quite ready to come back and take the pounding yet," Woods said. "I had no ACL, and then I have no hamstring or glute strength because I just did a surgery ... after Augusta. So I just now started to practice, and I practiced way too hard to get ready for this event. That's when I broke it. "

Two weeks later, as has now been cemented in golf lore for eternity, Woods did play in the U.S. Open. He beat Rocco Mediate in a 19-hole playoff on essentially one leg and then had season-ending surgery two weeks later to repair the ACL.

Woods said Saturday that he had hoped to play in the majors and skip the tournaments in between as he tried to recuperate. The injuries would never have healed completely, though, so Woods opted for the surgery that would keep him out eight months.

"After what happened, I was going to keep re-breaking it as it healed because I needed to practice and play," Woods explained. "So I was never given a chance to actually truly heal. So I had to shut it down."

Woods has played in six tournaments since his return -- winning one and finishing in the top-10 in the other four stroke play events.

Woods has tamed what had heretofore been an erratic driver this week, hitting all but seven fairways in his first three rounds, and 40 of 54 fairways. His putter hasn't been quite as cooperative, though, with 90 putts including 32 on Saturday.

"(The greens) picked up a little speed today,' Woods said. "I'm sure they're over 14 (on the Stimpmeter) today. Some of the pins are going to be a little more difficult tomorrow. Today was actually the easier of the three days to score.

"Pins are going to be tucked a little bit tomorrow. Going to be a little more disciplined what you're doing. But the greens are so smooth, you can make 20 footers out there. Just got to get the right speeds."