An early birdie keeps Woods ahead of the field at PGA Championship at humid Hazeltine

Woods stays ahead of the field at PGA

CHASKA, Minn. — Tiger Woods’ ball dropped halfway into the cup and rolled around the rim. Instead of falling, though, it popped back out.

The crowd groaned, and Woods stared in disbelief.

OK, so not everything is going his way at the PGA Championship.

Woods’ bogey on the par-3 No. 4 — his first this week on a short hole — cut his lead to three strokes in the year’s last major. U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and Y.E. Yang are all tied at 4 under, and another five players are at 3 under.

Woods insists there’s plenty of golf still to be played, but the stats say otherwise. The four-stroke lead he had after the second round was his largest at a major since the 2005 British Open at St. Andrews, when he led by five. He hasn’t lost a 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour in five years, and that was when he was revamping his swing.

And the doozy of them all: He’s 8-0 as the 36-hole leader at a major.

“If Tiger plays the golf he’s capable of on the weekend,” Padraig Harrington said, “he’ll be a winner.”

Conditions were tough again Saturday, with the wind gusting and the humidity up. More ominous, dark clouds moved in at midmorning and parked themselves above Hazeltine National. The forecast calls for a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, and storms are likely in the evening.

Still, there were birdies to be had.

Big-hitting Alvaro Quiros was at 3 under after four birdies on the back nine, Yang birdied three of his last five holes on the front nice and Steve Flesch shot a 3-under 69. Flesch actually looked as if he might make a charge with four early birdies, but he had two bogeys and a double bogey on the backside.

“I made a bunch of mistakes and I was glad to shoot under par,” Flesch said. “I haven’t played that well this year, so it’s nice to play well on the Saturday of a major.”

Mickelson would have liked to say the same thing.

Lefty hasn’t played much this summer as his wife and mother battle breast cancer, and made the cut on the number. He had another rough day Saturday with a 4-over 76 that left him at 8 over. He bogeyed his first three par-5s — including the No. 3 for a second straight day — opened the back nine with three straight bogeys and made just one birdie.

“It’s frustrating for me to not be in contention on the weekend of a major,” Mickelson said. “But that’s motivation for me to work hard.”