Tiger Woods got the better of a head-to-head with Phil Mickelson yet again today and is now back on course to become the first player since Ray Floyd in 1981 to retain the Ford Championship at Doral in Florida.
Woods, who came from five behind Mickelson at halfway to win by one last year, shared the 36-hole lead with his great rival - and also Scott Verplank and Camilo Villegas.
And after a mid-round hiccup on day three he came storming back in brilliant fashion to take a two-stroke lead into the final 18 holes.
A hat-trick of birdies from the 13th, after he had double-bogeyed the short ninth and failed to birdie two par fives, gave Woods a four-under-par 68 and a 17-under total of 199.
Mickelson, in the water at the last and relieved to make a 16-foot putt for a bogey five, slipped back to sixth with a 72.
Woods' nearest challengers now are Orlando-based Swede Daniel Chopra and fellow American Rich Beem, the man who pipped him for the 2002 US PGA title.
Chopra, never higher than fourth on the US Tour, finished off his 68 with a 65-foot birdie putt to set up a duel with Woods in the final round when Colombian rookie Villegas, one behind Woods at the time, double-bogeyed the same hole.
Mickelson will now have to make up four strokes if he is to gain revenge for last year, when Woods fired closing rounds of 63 and 66 to deny him.
The main claim to fame of Chopra, born in Stockholm of Swedish and Indian parents, is that he was the first person ever to hit a golf ball on the Great Wall of China.
That was in 1995, just before he became a member of the European tour, where he stayed but never won until qualifying in America in 2001.
Resuming two behind, Chopra became joint leader when he birdied the first two holes, but Woods matched that and was out on his own in front when he added a third birdie on the long eighth.
Then came the stumble, but a superb tee shot to three feet on the 13th sparked him into life again. He added another birdie at the next and on the 15th, another par three, he made an eight-foot putt to reach 17 under.
Chopra's compatriot Fredrik Jacobson had moved into the thick of things with five birdies in the first seven holes of the back nine, but he drove into the lake at the last, double-bogeyed and with a 68 fell back into joint 10th place on 11 under.
Greg Owen and Padraig Harrington, paired together, shot 68 and 69 respectively to stand 10 under and nine under, while David Howell is one further back following a 69.
