Harrington slips back on final holes

Pádraig Harrington plummeted down the leaderboard after a terrible finish to his third round at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am on the PGA Tour.

The Dubliner looked set to be in one of the last groups out on Sunday but finished bogey-par-bogey-double bogey to card a level-par round of 72 at Spyglass Hill.

He had previously shot a six-under 66 at Pebble Beach and a two-under 68 at Monterey in the multi-course event to put himself in contention.

Saturday's third round had gone well to that point with birdies on the first, second, sixth and 12th holes putting Harrington in the hunt and likely to play alongside Tiger Woods in the second group out on Sunday at Pebble.

But he gave it all back to the course during a disastrous finish and is now seven shots behind leader Charlie Wi, who shot a second consecutive 69 to add to his opening day 61 at Monterey to reach -15.

The final round takes place at Pebble Beach tomorrow.

Woods charged up the leaderboard with a blistering run of six birdies in eight holes. He is alone in third place on 11-under-par, four behind Wi and one behind second placed Ken Duke (-12)

Six strokes off the pace overnight, the former world number one fired a five-under-par 67 at Pebble Beach, scene of his 15 shot victory at the 2000 US Open.

His only disappointment was not to take greater advantage of the easier outward nine, his back nine on Saturday, as he bid for a first victory in a full-field event since the 2009 Australian Masters.

"I'm definitely playing better," 14-times major champion Woods told Golf Channel after totalling only 25 putts in the third round.

"My misses are much tighter and my start lines are much tighter. The bad days and the bad shots really aren't as bad as they used to be," added the American, who has battled form over the past two years while being plagued with injury problems and the breakdown of his marriage.

He has also re-modelled his swing for the third time, this time with the help of Sean Foley.

"I don't curve the ball as much either way and the ball is flying much straighter. I scored well today ... and the putts went in. It was a lot of fun out there."