Tiger Woods entered the final nine holes of the US PGA Championship in a tie for the lead with playing partner Yang Yong-eun as the scoring fluctuated wildly in gusting winds at Hazeltine National. In pursuit of a 15th major title but his first this year, Woods covered the front nine in two-over-par 38 after bogeying the fourth and eighth. That left him at six under overall and level with South Korean Yang, who held off Woods to win the 2007 European Tour's Champions tournament in China. Britain's Lee Westwood was among four players knotted at three under after mixing four birdies with two bogeys in the first 15 holes. Level with Westwood were US Open champion Lucas Glover and Dane Soren Kjeldsen, after 10 holes, and Swede Henrik Stenson (nine). Two ahead of the chasing pack overnight, four-times champion Woods narrowly missed birdie opportunities on the first two holes before Yang cut his lead to one by rolling in an eight-footer to birdie the par-three fifth. For the second day in a row, Woods three-putted to bogey the par-three fourth and dropped back into a share of the lead at seven-under-par. Yang, however, slipped back when he bogeyed the fifth after missing the green to the left with his approach and failing to get up and down. That left the Korean briefly tied for second with holder Padraig Harrington before the Irishman dramatically plummeted into a tie for 11th with an ugly quintuple-bogey at the par-three eighth. Harrington twice found water, once off the tee and also with his fourth shot after ending up in tangly rough to the left of the green, before signing for an eight. World number one Woods, who had been struggling with his approach play in the shifting winds, also stumbled at the eighth after finding a greenside bunker off the tee. His second shot rolled through the green on to the fringe from where he was unable to sink an 18-footer to save par. He and Yang both parred the ninth to reach the turn deadlocked for the lead.
