Oosthuizen dazzles with birdie display to lead Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy at Deutsche Bank

Louis Oosthuizen ran off seven straight birdies and shot 29 on the front nine of the TPC Boston in Norton, Mass., Sunday en route to an 8-under-par 63 and a three-shot lead after three rounds of the Deutsche Bank Championship, the second leg of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup playoffs.

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy (67) is in second and world No. 3 Tiger Woods (68) is tied for third, six shots back of Oosthuizen at 19-under 194.

"Probably the start anyone would dream of on that front nine," Oosthuizen said. "I made everything, so you get those days where you just look at a putt and you hole it. That was my first nine holes."

McIlroy, trying to match Woods with his third PGA Tour win this year, did well just to stay in range.

"You think going out with a one-shot lead and shooting 67 that you . . . might still be in the lead going into the last day," McIlroy said. "But Louis put on a display out there for a few holes, reeling off seven birdies in a row. It was great to watch. Louis is the sort of player that can do that. He's very explosive and he didn't really put a foot wrong today. Very happy that I'm still in touching distance going into tomorrow."

Woods again said he didn't make as many putts as he thought he would. "I'm going to have to put together one of those rounds," Woods said. "It won't surprise me if somebody shoots 8 or 9 under par tomorrow because of where the pin locations are. Somebody is going to go out there and do it. It may be early, it may be late, who knows? But hopefully, I'm one of those guys." -- AP