Watson puts Monty in the shade

The veteran Watson was in inspired form

Tom Watson, playing with Scotland's Colin Montgomerie, turned back the clock on Saturday to equal the Valhalla course record with a seven-under-par 65.

The popular American delighted the galleries as his accurate iron play carried him up the leaderboard.

As Tiger Woods prepared to tee off in the final pairing with Scott Dunlap, Watson held the clubhouse lead on five under.

Montgomerie's round was a marked improvement on his first two days, a solid two-under-par 70, but he fell away towards the end of his round and at level par after three rounds he is too far off the pace to challenge the leaders.

Montgomerie made a great start to his round

The perennial European number one got off to an electric start when he almost eagled the fifth, settling for a birdie, and then birdied the sixth and seventh.

However, it was playing partner Tom Watson who stirred the crowd into life when he stormed into the leaderboard on five under.

Scramble

The veteran golfer, who began the day 13 shots behind Woods, shot six birdies and scrambled a par on the 16th after playing himself into trouble.

Another golfer who made another impression on the leaderboard was Franklin Langham, who moved up into the top half to six under after the first nine thanks to two birdies in the opening four holes.

England's Nick Faldo enjoyed another sub-par round after surviving the cut by the skin of his teeth.

After shooting a seven-over-par 79 on the first day, Faldo has now fought back to level par.

But it could have been so much better as he missed from 10 and five feet on the first two greens, and lipped out from 25 feet on the fourth.

Scuffed

The former world number one, however, saved the best to last. After putting his third shot in a bunker at the par-five 18th and scuffing his first attempt from the sand, Faldo holed out with a wonderful sand wedge to save his par and card a 69.

Behind him Paul Lawrie and Padraig Harrington were playing together.

While Lawrie went to three over by bogeying the long second after pulling his second into the creek, Harrington birdied it with a 12-foot putt and took another chance on the fourth to stand one over.

But most attention remained on Woods, bidding to equal Ben Hogan's 1953 feat of three major victories in one season.

Woods, also trying to become the first man to defend the title since Densmore Shute in 1937, led by one from Scott Dunlap and by four from Davis Love, Fred Funk and JP Hayes at the end of the second round.