Tiger Woods maintains lead at Bay Hill

ORLANDO, Fla. -- One swing cost Tiger Woods a comfortable lead at Bay Hill. All that mattered to him was his name atop the leader board at the end of the day, leaving him one round away from winning on the PGA Tour for the first time in 30 months.

If anything, Saturday showed that it won't be easy in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

In two holes, Woods went from a four-shot lead to briefly tied with Graeme McDowell after a bizarre chain of events that featured a young man passing out and a woman screaming, all in the middle of Woods' swing on the 15th tee.

But he followed the double bogey with a birdie from a fairway bunker on the par-5 16th to restore his lead, and then hung on for a 1-under-par 71 for a one-shot lead over McDowell going into the final round.

McDowell didn't make a birdie until the 17th hole, but he was bogey-free on a tough day for a 71.

Woods is 37-2 when he has the outright lead going into the final round, and Sunday will show if he has regained his status as the most formidable closer in golf.

Woods, who was at 11-under 205, last won on the PGA Tour on Sept. 13, 2009, at the BMW Championship. That also was the last time he had the outright lead at a PGA Tour event after 54 holes. He has never had a better chance to end the drought than now -- in the lead and on a course where he has won a record six times.

"I enjoy it," Woods said of his place atop the leader board. "It means I've played well to get there. It's not like I'm slashing it all over the place and happened to be at 11 under par. If you're in the lead, you've done some good things. That's how I've always looked at it, and it's a nice position to be in."

Woods has such control of his ball that he went 38 consecutive holes with a putter in his hand for a birdie attempt.

The last time Woods and McDowell played in the final group of any tournament, McDowell rallied from four shots behind and beat Woods in a playoff in the Chevron World Challenge at the end of 2010.

"The golf course is going to be the main competitor tomorrow," McDowell said. Indeed, it might not be just them.

Ernie Els rekindled his hopes of getting into the Masters with six birdies in a round of 67 that left him only three shots behind. Ian Poulter had a 68 and also was tied for third. Charles Howell III (68) and Sony Open winner Johnson Wagner (69) were four behind.