Tiger move one stroke clear at Medinah

MEDINAH, Illinois, Aug 20 (Reuters) Tiger Woods holed a 10-foot birdie putt at the opening hole to edge one stroke clear of playing partner Luke Donald in the PGA Championship final round.

The world number one, hunting his 12th career major and third PGA, moved to 15 under for the tournament after finding the fairway off the tee and striking a superb approach on a bright and breezy day at Medinah Country Club.

Woods had a chance to forge two ahead at the par-three second but his 25-foot birdie putt from the fringe scraped past the left edge of the cup.

Donald, bidding to become the PGA Championship's first European-born winner in 76 years, narrowly missed his birdie attempt from 18 feet at the par-four first and also parred the second to stay level for the day.

Woods, red-hot favourite to win his second successive major after clinching last month's British Open, has never lost when leading or holding a share of the lead going into the final round of the game's biggest events.

He fired a course-record tying 65 in Saturday's third round and is perfectly poised to move past fellow American Walter Hagen in the all-time major standings.

Hagen and Woods lie joint second with 11 victories with only Jack Nicklaus on 18 ahead of them.

Canada's Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters champion, was alone in third place at 12 under after two holes with Spaniard Sergio Garcia, 2003 PGA champion Shaun Micheel and US Open winner Geoff Ogilvy of Australia a further stroke back in a tie for fourth.

RIFLED APPROACH American Micheel birdied the first while Garcia picked up his first shot of the round after rifling an approach to within a foot of the flag at the par-four third.

American Chad Campbell, boosted by four consecutive birdies from the fifth, produced the best round of the early starters with a sparkling six-under-par 66.

The 32-year-old Texan, runner-up in the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, raced to the turn in five-under 31 and picked up one more shot at the par-five 14th for a four-under total of 284.

''I came out and played pretty well,'' Campbell told reporters after making the most of Medinah's receptive greens.

''It was fun to get a bunch of birdies on the front nine. That back side is a lot tougher. The greens are still pretty soft although they might be running a little bit faster today.'' Nine players were bunched within six strokes of the lead going into the final day, including left-hander Weir, world number nine Garcia and defending champion Phil Mickelson.

REUTERS SK PM0155