Special to PGATOUR.com

SAN DIEGO -- Australian Rod Pampling is likely only half joking when he says his wife Angela quit her job as a practicing clinical psychologist seven years ago strictly to massage his brain.

"There's a lot going up on top," he said with a smile. "It's a fulltime job."

Never will her work be more needed than Sunday in the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines, when Pampling will step up to the first tee in the final threesome, paired with Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia.

Pampling is tied for the lead at 11-under-par 205 with Garcia after both shot 4-under-par 68 in the third round on the Torrey Pines South Course. Woods, who carded a 67, and TOUR rookie Nathan Green (69) are one stroke behind.

"There definitely will be a huge amount of nerves," Pampling said.

"That's part of it. If you don't get nervous on Sunday in the last group, you never will. That's part of the game and we work hard to control that. Whoever handles it the best will end up winning the golf tournament."

Pampling, 36, has only been in this situation once before. At the 2004 INTERNATIONAL, where they use the Modified Stableford scoring system, he played in the last group with Chris DiMarco and made a 21-foot eagle putt from the fringe on the 71st hole to score five points and beat Alex Cejka by two points.

It was a victory that propelled Pampling to a career-best 31st on the TOUR money list that year, and he followed up with a 48th-place finish last season on the strength of six top-10s.

"It was huge," Pampling said of the INTERNATIONAL victory. "Any time you win for the first time it's going to give you a huge boost of confidence. Chris DiMarco is a great player; to go head-to-head with him and win there, it's great for your confidence.

"The more times you're in this situation, the easier it becomes. It might be just after your first tee shot and then once you're away its like, all right, let's get into it.

"Obviously, if it happens to go my way and I win the golf tournament, it's quite a field that you've beaten. Any time you win out here, it's a pretty good field. This one, obviously, you've got Tiger and Phil (Mickelson) and Sergio just right there. So it would be a nice one to take the trophy tomorrow."

While Pampling will be considered a heavy underdog to Woods, the three-time Buick Invitational winner, and Garcia, ranked No. 6 in the world, he is playing well enough to battle them with confidence. He made seven birdies in his third round on the South, including a chip-in from 88 feet at No. 12, the sixth-hardest hole on the course.

It helps that Pampling's putter has experienced a startling turnaround. Last week in a missed cut at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, on seemingly perfect and true greens, he said he rolled the ball terribly, and the result was that he went into this week ranked 117th on the TOUR in putting average.

In the Buick, where the bumpy poa annua greens are far more unpredictable, Pampling leads the field in putting average and he needed only 26 putts in the third round.

"It's the nature of the beast," Pampling said. "It's so easy to miss a good putt, just with a bad read. I really struggled with reading the greens last week, where I feel comfortable here. You're going to make a lot more if you're not guessing where you want to hit it."

If there is any area in which Pampling's wife has helped him the most, it's probably patience for situations just like last week.

"Even if you're playing bad, you have to be patient to hopefully improving," Pampling said. "At least you're giving yourself a chance when you're patient. When you're not patient, I think you lose a chance to win or to play well.

"After last week, if you looked at that you wouldn't think the game is too good. But I knew I played well last week, and on this golf course, from one extreme to the other was just so difficult. I didn't expect to be up there, but it's great to be there."