SAN MARTIN, Calif. – Tiger Woods put together back-to-back rounds in the 60s for the first time since the start of the season. It wasn’t enough Saturday at the Frys.com Open, and Woods knew it.

After making a mess of the par 3s, Woods had to settle for a 3-under 68 that put him in the middle of the pack.

Briny Baird drove the 17th green and made a 15-foot eagle putt for a 7-under 64 to take a two-shot lead and give him a chance to finally win a PGA Tour event.

Baird has gone 347 tournaments over 12 years on tour without hoisting a trophy. But he has been around long enough to know that anything that happen in the final round, especially with Ernie Els and Paul Casey in the last group with him at CordeValle.

Els failed to make up any ground on the easier back nine and had a 67. Casey saved par from a hazard on the final hole to salvage a 68.

Woods was the first to tee off – on the back nine – and while two straight birdies on Nos. 1 and 2 pulled him within three shots, the leaders were in the group ahead of him and just getting started.

It was too beautiful of a day at CordeValle, with bright sunshine and barely a breeze. The pins were accessible.

Everyone was making birdies. Woods didn’t make enough.

“The golf course could have been had today,” Woods said. “Guys can take it deep out there.”

In his first PGA Tour event in seven weeks – and his last official PGA Tour event of the year – Woods was still wading in water. After back-to-back birdies early in his round, he had a chip from just off the green at No. 16 lip out of the cup, then didn’t come close to driving the green on the par-4 17th even though it required a straight tee shot to a pin in the middle of the putting surface.

He was at 5-under 208, and likely to have too many players ahead of him to make a run in the final round.

Woods at least broke 70 in back-to-back rounds for the first time since his 69-69 start at Torrey Pines in his first tournament of the year.

Woods missed nearly four months with left leg injuries he suffered at the Masters, and said he didn’t have enough time to practice when he returned to play poorly in two events. He failed to qualify for the FedEx Cup, giving him a nearly two-month break.

“I was very close to really putting it together on the front nine – birdie 17 and 18, and all of a sudden, I’m 5 under,” Woods said.

He didn’t, and he wasn’t.

His tee shot on the 17th, which played only 294 yards over a pond, was pulled badly to the left in deep grass around a bunker, and Woods chopped it out across the green. He hit two good shots on the 18th, only to miss an 8-foot birdie putt.

“It’s getting better,” Woods said. “I’m improving day by day, which is good. Obviously, tomorrow I need to improve a lot and make the putts and post a really low one tomorrow.”

LPGA: Local youngster Soo-Jin Yang tied the course record as she took over the lead of the Hana Bank Championship in Incheon, South Korea, one stroke ahead of top-ranked Yani Tseng.

Yang, 20, shot up to the top of the leader board with a round of 65 and a two-round total of 10-under 134 at Sky 72 Golf Club’s Ocean Course. Tseng shot a 70 to claim a share of second place with two-time defending champion Na Yeon Choi, who had another bogey-free round.

CHAMPIONS: Brad Faxon moved into position for his first Champions Tour title, shooting a 7-under 65 in windy conditions to take a one-stroke lead in the Insperity Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Faxon, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour who turned 50 on Aug. 1, had a bogey-free round to reach 10-under 134. Tommy Armour III, celebrating his 52nd birthday, was second after a 67. He also is winless on the 50-and-over tour.

EUROPEAN: England’s Lee Slattery extended his lead at the Madrid Masters to 2 strokes after shooting a 3-under 69 in the third round in Madrid. Slattery led by 1 overnight and produced a steady round of three birdies without dropping a shot to finish the day at 14 under for the tournament. He’s two shots ahead of Italian Lorenzo Gagli and Australian Brett Rumford.