Tiger Woods score today: Another sub-70 outing in Round 3 at Arnold Palmer Invitational

Tiger Woods shot a 3-under 69 in Round 3 of the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational on Saturday and sits at 7 under going into the final round on Sunday. He was four strokes behind the co-leaders at the time he finished, and missed out on a few more chances to really get in the thick of it with just 18 holes left in his pre-Masters prep work.

Tiger bogeyed the second hole before making birdies at three of the next four. A bogey at No. 8 helped touch off a lackluster 35 on the front nine. After an inconspicuous start to his second nine, he made birdies at Nos. 11 and 16 before a fried egg lie on the par-3 17th led to his only bogey over the final 10 holes. A birdie at the last hole on a nasty putt capped the 69.

"I figured that would probably get me within five or six of the lead," Woods said on NBC. "I'm within reach if I shoot a really low round tomorrow. I'm going to have to shoot a low one and probably get a little bit of help."

The result from Woods' 69 -- which followed a 68-72 start -- is that he'll probably be too far back to really make a run on Sunday for the victory, although it's not inconceivable barring somebody running away and hiding over the last 90 minutes of action in Round 3. The door really opened, too, for Woods to put himself in premium position. Co-leaders Henrik Stenson and Bryson DeChambeau played their first 10 holes in 1 over as the field chased. Woods joined the charge, but he likely didn't close hard enough on Moving Day. 

Barring something insane (like the leaders faltering and Woods shooting something in the low 60s), Tiger will finish up his fifth and final tournament before the Masters with a lot of solid work but no trophy to show for it.

Here are four takeaways on his third round at Bay Hill.

1. Bogey bounces: Following his three bogeys on Saturday, Woods gave himself birdie putts of 14 feet, 12 feet and 6 feet, and he completed two of those birdies. Anecdotally and empirically, nobody bounces back like Woods does after poor holes. He's third on the PGA Tour in bounce back percentage at 35 percent, and helped that number on Saturday with two birdies in three tries. 

"Never to give in," Woods told NBC of his inner fight. "Always trying to make the best possible score and dig it out on every single hole. Unfortunately I made three bogeys today, but I made three birdies right after that, which is positive."

2. Putting rebound: After hitting just over 60 feet of putts on Friday, Woods poured in birdie putts of 38 feet, 15 feet, 12 feet, 10 feet and a par-saver from eight feet. He gained over two strokes on the rest of the field with the flat stick, which ranked inside the top 10. Anybody's strokes gained with the putter is going to vary greatly from round to round because of how much making a single long putt can affect it, so I prefer to look at your strokes gained overall with the putter. Woods ranks No. 23 on the PGA Tour coming into this week with the putter, which is more than enough for him to win golf tournaments.

3. Par-5 scoring: Tiger has played the par 5s in 9 under this week. He's played the rest of the course in 2 over. On Saturday, he birdied three of the four of the par 5s (he birdied them all in Round 1), although he had to hit some putts to do so. Woods is currently No. 179 on the PGA Tour in par-5 scoring, so it's been good to see him get on track on those holes this week. 

4. Still has magic: Woods hit a shot on the par-5 16th that evoked memories of yesteryear. After pushing his drive into a fairway bunker, he took his second from 206 yards over the lip of the bunker, over a tree to 15 feet. From there, he missed the eagle and two-putted for birdie, but it was a fantastic reminder of his creativity and ability to not only recover but score from seemingly impossible positions. 

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