Tiger Watch: Day 3 at the Masters

7:05 p.m.: Westwood and Mickelson both hit par on 18, finishing at 12-under and 11-under respectively. Woods and Choi are tied at 8-under. In fifth place is Fred Couples, who along with Hunter Mahan, shot 4-under for the day. In all, one of the best third days the Masters has seen.

Thanks everyone. If Saturday was any indication, Sunday should be fantastic. See you back here tomorrow for the final day of the Masters.

18th Hole: 465 yards, par-4. Tiger closes with a birdie, shoots a 70 on the day and is 8-under overall, tying him with K.J. Choi for third place. Westwood is 12-under and our leader with one hole to go, one stroke ahead of Mickelson who's in the clubhouse and finished with what is probably the most remarkable day. But Westwood continued to build his lead and didn't panic as Lefty made his advance.

17th Hole: 425 yards, par-4. Eesh. Just like that, Tiger comes out with a terrible tee shot, very far to the right. CBS joking that it went closer to the 15th fairway than the 17th.

Tiger takes a hard, contorting swing to put himself in position for par. On his third shot, the pitch put him less than 10 feet from the hole, but he can't hit the put. Tap-in is good for a bogey, he's back to 7-under with one hole to play.

16th Hole: 170 yards, par-3. Tiger had about a 14-foot shot for birdie that lipped out after landing in the middle of the green. He couldn't hit it, settling for par. But in physical look and in his game, Tiger is playing much more confidently and even calmly than he was at the outset of the afternoon.

Mickelson bogeyed 17, putting him in a tie with Westwood at the top. They're 11-under.

15th Hole: 530 yards, par-5. Tiger eagled this hole Thursday, one of his two, and birdied it here yesterday. He was able to take advantage of the par-5 13th, can he do the same here? His drive was down the right side, giving him a chance to put it away in two. Second shot was too strong, he'll have to chip in. Likely eliminates the eagle possibility. He gets the birdie, that's three in a row to move to 8-under overall. Impressive late showing for Tiger after his early frustration.

14th Hole: 440 yards, par-4. Woods lands in the second cut on his drive, puts him 179 yards out on the right side. His second shot settles on the green just a couple feet out of the hole (and nearly hit by K.J. Choi's second shot) setting up a birdie that would bring Tiger out to 7-under. He hits it.

Mickelson is stealing the show, nearly making a third consecutive eagle then hitting the birdie on 15. He's alone in first at 12-under. Westwood is one behind.

13th Hole: 510 yards, par-5. Tiger's approach on to the green caught the slope but remained on the green after a short drive. He pulled his eagle putt but still was easily able to hit the four-foot birdie shot, doing exactly what he needs to: converting par-5s into birdies or better.

Westwood with his first bogey of the day on the 12th hole, putting him and Mickelson in a tie for the lead at 12-under.

12th Hole: 153 yards, par-3. Mickelson has back-to-back eagles, the second one coming on the 14th. It's his first time with two eagles in the same round at the Masters and, at 11-under, he's just one off of Westwood. Mickelson faced a huge ovation as he walked the length of his 139-yard shot to the cup.

Oh. And Tiger made par on the 12th hole.

11th Hole: 505 yards, par-4. Par on the 11th for Tiger, and he's starting to truly be eclipsed. Phil Mickelson, to a roar, eagle's on the 13th hole to second place alone at 9-under. Lee Westwood, who entered the day tied with Ian Poulter at 8-under, has continued his outstanding play and is now 12-under after a birdie on the 10th hole. Westwood hasn't bogeyed today.

10th Hole: 495 yards, par-4. Woods sets up a 20-foot birdie shot and then a 7-foot par shot, and he can't hit either. He bogeys again — this is his fourth, dropping him back to 5-under. Inconsistency has been the name of his game today. Tiger, Kim and Choi — who all started at 6-under overall today — are at 5-under now. Barnes is at 4-under overall. The other two who started in the 6-under pack, Y.E. Yang and Phil Mickelson, have had disparate outings: for the day, Yang is 3-over and Mickelson is 1-under.

Making charges: Hunter Mahan is 4-under on the day and alone in fourth place at 6-under overall. Fred Couples (Remember him? Your leader entering day two?) is 2-under for the day and 5-under overall, tying him with Woods, Choi and Kim.

9th Hole: 460 yards, par-4. A par for Woods on the final hole of the front nine, giving him 36 on the day and 6-under overall.

Lee Westwood birdied the eighth hole to move to 11-under, three strokes ahead of Poulter.

8th Hole: 570 yards, par-5. A good tee shot for Tiger, and with his struggles the last two holes, you would think a strong drive to be key. He gets within a few feet on his third shot for an "easy" birdie. Again, Tiger showing his strength on the longest of holes. He's back to 6-under, tied with Ricky Barnes.

With a birdie on the eighth hole, Mickelson has moved to 8-under into second place behind Westwood, who's at 10-under, had a fantastic par save on the seventh hole after pulling his tee shot well left into the trees. Poulter bogeyed the fifth and sixth holes but rebounded with a birdie on seven. He's alone at 7-under.

7th Hole: 450 yards, par-4. Tiger looks visibly displeased, with a faster gait and nothing close to a smile. His birdie putt from the edge of the green was long and to the left. His uphill par putt, about seven feet out, skirted the hole and he bogeyed again. He's 1-over now on the day, bogeying the last two holes. He's 5-under.

Phil Mickelson takes a birdie on the eighth hole, missing an eagle putt that seemed to be turning into the hole before straightening at the last second. Mickelson had an animated reaction, cringing as though he'd been punched in the gut.

6th Hole: 180 yards, par-3. Tiger cursed more than audbily on his 7-iron tee shot — the microphone probably wasn't meant to be on. That prompted CBS' crew to say: "I don't think he's pleased."

Jim Nantz commenting that Tiger, with all of his promises of increased restraint, has had some mediocre shots today and shown little discipline with his mouth.

Tiger well overshoots the cup on his birdie shot and skirts the hole on the par shot for his second bogey. That's two bogeys on the two par-3s thus far — for as strong as he's been on the par-5s, he needs to at least make par on the par-3s.

5th Hole: 455 yards, par-4.  A par on the fifth hole. He had an uphill birdie putt that missed six feet below the hole. He comes through with the six-foot putt for par.

4th Hole: 240 yards, par-3. Tiger immediately drops back to 7-under with a fourth-hole bogey.

Mickelson bogeyed the sixth hole, slipping into a tie with Tiger. Poulter is in second place at 8-under, but Lee Westwood has made an early charge with a birdie on the fourth hole. He's our leader at 10-under.

3rd Hole: 350 yards, par-4. A birdie on the third hole for Tiger was already his second birdie of the day, dropping him to 8-under and into a tie for second. His tee shot went off the trees but took a fortunate bounce back to the fairway. From there, he chipped on to the green with backspin, setting up an impressive 15-foot birdie putt that curved from left to right into the hole, ending with a signature Woods fist pump.

2nd Hole: 575 yards, par-5. Woods keeps par, this after his reaction to his tee shot was audibly "Damn it." His birdie putt from about 20 feet out went long, but set up the easy par shot.

There are 19 players under par at the moment. With his own birdie on the first hole, Westwood has taken a one stroke lead over Poulter and Mickelson, moving him to 9-under.

1st Hole: 445 yards, par-4. Woods stormed out of the gate with a birdie, dropping to 7-under. Of note: this is the fifth consecutive round Woods and Y.E. Yang have played side-by-side, dating to a previous tournament.

A louder ovation for Tiger this afternoon than he had yesterday morning. His drive put him on the left side of the fairway and set up a perfect pitch on to the green, where he hit the birdie from about 15 feet out.

Phil Mickelson has two consecutive birdies (second and third holes), putting himself in a three-way tie for the lead at 8-under. Not a bad start for the two big names.

***

We're nearing Tiger Woods' 2:35 p.m. tee time on day three of the Masters in Augusta, Ga. Tiger is in a six-way tie for third place behind co-leaders Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter (8-under). Westwood and Poulter tee off 10 minutes later, at 2:45.

Phil Mickelson, Y.E. Yang, Ricky Barnes, K.J. Choi and Anthony Kim all enter the day tied with Woods. All have teed off within the 2 p.m. hour.

Evan Drellich here to take you through Tiger's day, hole-by-hole. Also, don't forget to keep up with the full leaderboard.