American Sean O'Hair stretched his lead to five shots in Saturday's third round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, despite limping home with three bogeys in the last four holes.
On a brutal day at Bay Hill where thick rough and gusting winds posed continual problems, O'Hair carded a one-over-par 71 to tighten his grip on the tournament.
O'Hair, 26, returned five bogeys and four birdies for a seven-under total of 203, with five-times champion Tiger Woods lurking in second place after a matching 71.
Woods closed to within four of the lead after making two consecutive birdies from the 12th but the world number one slipped back with bogeys on 16 and 18, where he lost his ball with his approach.
Padraig Harrington could only manage a round of 73 to leave him on one over par going into the last round, three shots behind Woods and eight behind the leader. Graeme McDowell lies on three over par after a 73 of his own.
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson fired a 68, one of only four sub-par scores on the day, to lie joint third at one under with fellow American Jason Gore (74) and Japan's Ryuji Imada (73).
For much of the round it seemed the in-form O'Hair would shrug off the challenging conditions in pursuit of his third PGA Tour title.
Three ahead of the chasing pack overnight, he coolly parred the first four holes before rolling in a 15-footer to birdie the fifth and stretch his lead to four.
However, O'Hair then collected his third bogey of the tournament after hitting his second shot into the lake behind the green at the par-five sixth.
O'Hair, whose most recent victory came at last year's Tampa Bay Championship in Florida, also bogeyed the ninth after finding a greenside bunker with his approach.
After calmly saving par with a 14-foot putt at the 10th, he birdied the next three holes.
He almost holed out with his approach on 11, two-putted at the par-five 12th and coaxed in a downhill 14-footer at the 13th to forge six ahead.
Along with most of his rivals, O'Hair faltered over the closing stretch.
He made his third bogey of the round at the par-four 15th after finding the right rough off the tee and also with his second shot.
He also dropped shots on 16, where he missed a five-foot putt, and at the difficult par-four last where he found the back left bunker with his approach.
