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Woods drops seven behind as four tie for lead at Greenbrier

Tiger Woods takes a practice swing on the 11th tee at The Old White TPC. Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports (Reuters)

(Reuters) - Tiger Woods fell seven strokes off the pace as four players tied for the lead after the third round of the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia on Saturday. On a day when American Jason Bohn carded a nine-under-par 61 to join the logjam at the top, Woods battled to his highest score of the week, a 71, to fall to equal 47th at the Old White TPC in White Sulphur Springs. The 14-times major champion hit his share of good shots, but a couple of wild drives demonstrated yet again that his swing changes under coach Chris Como remain a work in progress. In his last start before the British Open at St. Andrews, where he has won twice, Woods took a double-bogey at the par-four 11th after fanning his drive out-of-bounds. Later, at the par-five 17th, he hooked his drive less than 200 yards en route to a bogey. Bohn had no such problems as he accrued 10 birdies to come within two shots of the course record 59 held by Stuart Appleby. After sinking a seven-foot putt at the 36th hole to make the cut with nothing to spare on Friday, Bohn used the confidence-booster as a springboard into contention. He finished long before the halfway leaders had even teed off, and his performance was good enough to end the day locked with fellow Americans Bryce Molder (67) and Sean O’Hair (66), and South Korean Park Sung-joon (66) at 11-under 199. Four others are just one stroke behind at a tournament where no 54-hole leader has ever won. “I had some benign conditions this morning and hit a lot of good shots and made a lot of putts, so it was great,” Bohn told CBS. “A lot of my putts didn’t have a lot of break to them. I didn’t really have that many difficult putts.” Bohn, 42, a two-time tour winner who launched his pro career in 1992 when he received $1 million for a hole-in-one, is motivated by more than thoughts of victory. The top four finishers not already exempt for the British Open at St. Andrews will earn a late ticket to the major championship in two weeks. “There is nothing like it anywhere in the world, the fans, the town, the golf course," Bohn said, "I want to play there and want to play there really bad.” (Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina, editing by Gene Cherry)