SAN DIEGO (California), June 15: Tiger Woods produced a brilliant birdie-eagle finish to vault into a one-stroke lead over Briton Lee Westwood after Saturday’s US Open third round.Woods, who had surgery on his left knee two months ago and was limping by the end of his round, overcame a poor start with his spectacular finish to post a one-under 70 to go to three under par for the tournament at Torrey Pines.

Westwood, in search of his first major title, missed a four-foot birdie putt at the last but registered a solid 70 for a two-under total of 211.

Woods’s rivals may need a touch of luck on Sunday. The American has won all 13 of his majors after holding the lead through 54 holes.

American Rocco Mediate, who led by as much as three strokes midway through the round before stumbling late on, sank a long birdie putt at 17 to haul himself back into the tournament at one under par after a 72.

Overnight leader Stuart Appleby of Australia, who began at three under par, had a nightmare round on the greens, missing a slew of short putts, most notably at the fifth where he four-putted from 20 feet for double bogey on his way to a 79.

Woods began the day a shot off the pace but slumped to a double-bogey at the first to fall further back. He was five strokes behind Mediate when he came to the 13th.

But at the 614-yard, par-five hole the world number one rolled in a 60-foot, right-to-left breaker for eagle, celebrating with a series of two-handed fist pumps to wild cheers from the crowd.

Mediate began his slide with a bogey at 13, followed that with a double-bogey at 15 and another dropped shot at the 16th.

Westwood birdied 13 and parred out from there to move to the top of the leaderboard before Woods’s flourish at the end.

At the par-four 17th, Woods’s short pitch from the rough bounced once, hit the pin and fell in the cup for birdie to move him to within one of Westwood.

The customary fist-pump celebration was replaced by a sheepish grin and a laugh.

At the 573-yard closing hole, Woods launched a five wood 227 yards to the green and rolled in a 40-foot putt for eagle.

Westwood, aiming to become the first European in 38 years to win the US Open, since Tony Jacklin in 1970, insisted he was up to the task.

Tied for fourth at one-over were 2006 champion Geoff Ogilvy (72) of Australia and American D.J. Trahan (73).

A shot further back were Australian Robert Allenby (73), Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez (74), Camilo Villegas of Colombia (71), Robert Karlsson of Sweden (75) and American Hunter Mahan (69).

Third-round scores:

210 – Tiger Woods (US) 72, 68, 70.

211 – Lee Westwood (Britain) 70, 71, 70.

212 – Rocco Mediate (US) 69, 71, 72.

214 – Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 69, 73, 72; D.J. Trahan (US) 72, 69, 73.

215 – Hunter Mahan (US) 72, 74, 69; Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 73, 71, 71; Robert Allenby (Australia) 70, 72, 73; Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 75, 66, 74; Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 70, 70, 75.

216 – Mike Weir (Canada) 73, 74, 69; Sergio Garcia (Spain) 76, 70, 70; John Merrick (US) 73, 72, 71; Ernie Els (South Africa) 70, 72, 74.

217 – Brandt Snedeker (US) 76, 73, 68; Brandt Jobe (US) 73, 75, 69; Oliver Wilson (Britain) 72, 71, 74; Davis Love III (US) 72, 69, 76.

218 – Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 74, 73, 71; Jim Furyk (US) 74, 71, 73; Martin Kaymer (Germany) 75, 70, 73; Scott Verplank (US) 72, 72, 74; Stuart Appleby (Australia) 69, 70, 79.

219 – Ryuji Imada (Japan) 74, 75, 70; Anthony Kim (US) 74, 75, 70; Boo Weekley (US) 73, 76, 70; Jeff Quinney (US) 79, 70, 70; Eric Axley (US) 69, 79, 71; Tim Clark (South Africa) 73, 72, 74; Patrick Sheehan (US) 71, 74, 74; Rod Pampling (Australia) 74, 70, 75; Robert Dinwiddie (Britain) 73, 71, 75; Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 71, 71, 77; Luke Donald (Britain) 71, 71, 77.

220 – Steve Stricker (US) 73, 76, 71; Chad Campbell (US) 77, 72, 71; David Toms (US) 76, 72, 72; Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 75, 73, 72; Joe Ogilvie (US) 71, 76, 73; Michael Thompson (US) 74, 73, 73; Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 73, 72, 75.221 – Todd Hamilton (US) 74, 74, 73; Adam Scott (Australia) 73, 73, 75; Dustin Johnson (US) 74, 72, 75; Woody Austin (US) 72, 72, 77; Andres Romero (Argentina) 71, 73, 77.

222 – Andrew Svoboda (US) 77, 71, 74; Justin Leonard (US) 75, 72, 75; Jonathan Mills (Canada) 72, 75, 75; Matt Kuchar (US) 73, 73, 76; Phil Mickelson (US) 71, 75, 76; D.A. Points (US) 74, 71, 77; Brett Quigley (US) 73, 72, 77; Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 78, 67, 77; Stewart Cink (US) 72, 73, 77; Retief Goosen (South Africa) 76, 69, 77; John Rollins (US) 75, 68, 79.

223 – Heath Slocum (US) 75, 74, 74; Alastair Forsyth (Britain) 76, 73, 74; Jarrod Lyle (Australia) 75, 74, 74; Daniel Chopra (Sweden) 73, 75, 75; Justin Hicks (US) 68, 80, 75; Pat Perez (US) 75, 73, 75; Bart Bryant (US) 75, 70, 78; Kevin Streelman (US) 68, 77, 78.

224 – Soren Hansen (Denmark) 78, 80, 76; Ian Leggatt (Canada) 72, 76, 76; Ben Crane (US) 75, 72, 77; Derek Fathauer (US) 73, 73, 78.

225 – Rickie Fowler (US) 70, 79, 76; Vijay Singh (Fiji) 71, 78, 76; Paul Casey (Britain) 79, 70, 76; Nick Watney (US) 73, 75, 77; Stephen Ames (Canada) 74, 74, 77.

226 – Jesper Parnevik (Sweden) 77, 72, 77; John Mallinger (US) 73, 75, 78; Ross McGowan (Britain) 76, 72, 78.

227 – Chris Kirk (US) 75, 74, 78.

228 – Andrew Dresser (US) 76, 73, 79; Rich Beem (US) 74, 74, 80.—Reuters