Abu Dhabi Championship: Tiger Woods Finishes Tied For Third, Robert Rock Wins

Tied for the lead entering the final round, in position to win his first regular season event since "The Thanksgiving Incident," noted golf enthusiast Tiger Woods fired a 72 in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, finishing at -11 and dropping to a tie for third place with Graeme McDowell and Thomas Bjorn behind winner Robert Rock (-13) and Rory McIlroy (-12).

Woods shot a 66 in the third round to storm to the top of the leaderboard into a tie with Rock, but the Brit was just steadier under pressure, something you could never imagine saying two years ago, but it's come to be a reality of Woods' current game. He's been in great position to take tournaments going into Sunday, but has consistently faltered when the opportunity has presented itself.

This was Rock's second win, his first coming in the BMW Italian Open in June. McIlory opened the day one shot back of Woods and Rock, but shot a 69 and couldn't find those couple of strokes to take it to a playoff.

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Tiger Woods seems to be back on track after shooting a six-under 66 on the third day of the PGA's tour through Abu Dhabi. Woods is in a tie at the top of the leaderboard entering Sunday's final round at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, but he didn't seem to have a lot of the confidence most remember from the former No. 1 golfer.

Woods, who won the Chevron Challenge exhibition in the offseason, hasn't been atop the leaderboard in a PGA event through Day 3 since winning the 2009 Australian Open, but he downplayed his performance when talking to the press.

"It just seemed like I didn't do a lot of things right but I didn't do a lot of things wrong today, it was just very consistent," Woods said. "You know, made a couple putts here and there ... I stayed away from trouble and tried to keep the ball towards the fat side of some of these pins and I think I did a pretty good job."

Woods didn't think his performance was all bad, however, he just shied away from saying it was great as he focused on simply being consistent.

"It's fun when I'm able to control the golf ball like I did," Woods told the AP. "To shape the ball both ways. Just a very consistent round. Things are progressing. It's getting better."

Britain's Robert Rock is tied with Woods as they're both currently 11-under heading into Sunday morning's (2:45 a.m. ET tee-off), but it doesn't sounds as though Woods' current competition is preparing for a David vs. Goliath match-up on the golf course.

"Not sure how much sleep I'll get," Rock said when asked how he felt playing with Tiger for the first time. "I think when I've made decent contact on the first hole hopefully then I'll start playing the game properly."

Rock sounded like a man preparing for defeat, but what if he could win? "It would be beyond anything that I thought I could do."

Either way, it should create for a compelling story on the final day of the Abu Dhabi Championship.

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After staying at the top of the leaderboard through the first few days of the 2012 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, Woods finally overtook the lead after Friday's round of golf. Woods shot a 66 in Round 3, putting himself at the top of the leaderboard with an 11 under. Woods isn't alone on the leaderboard however, as Britain's Robert Rock is also sitting pretty with an 11 under after the first three rounds. Rock also shot a 66 on Friday, following up his 70 round the day before.

There are four players hot on their tail entering the final round of Abu Dhabi, as Peter Hanson, Francesco Molinari, Rory McIlroy, and Paul Lawrie are all tied for third with nine under. Hanson came on in a fury after following up his round of 69, shooting a 64 on Friday to climb his way to third place.

Some other notables include K.J. Choi struggling at just two under and Sergio Garcia falling to five under after shooting a 71 on Friday.

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Tiger Woods made his 2012 debut this week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship. Competition continued on Friday as Woods continued to play consistently, staying in a comfortable position near the top of the leaderboard.

After finishing the second day of the tournament at 3-under par, he now sits in third place with six other players at 5-under, including Robert Karlsson and Rory McIlroy, who shot even par on Friday.

The current leader is Thorbjorn Olesen, who shot 5-under on the second day to bring him to 7-under in the event. In second place at 6-under par are Matteo Manassero and Gareth Maybin. No. 1-ranked Luke Donald shot an even par of 72 as well and is now 1-under.

According to Golf.com, Woods had five birdies and two bogeys on Friday, hit six of 14 fairways and 13 greens in regulation.

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The first day of the 2012 Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship is in the books. The fourth event on the European Tour is also the first competition of the year for Tiger Woods, who finished the day at 2-under par, placing him in a five-way tie for ninth place on the leaderboard.

Tiger is paired with No. 3 Rory McIlroy, who finished the round at 5-under and a share of first place on the leaderboard, along with Robery Karlsson.

German golfer Martin Kaymer, who is ranked No. 4 in the world and has won the last two Abu Dhabi tournaments, got off to a shaky start and finished at 5-over par in the first round. Similarly struggling is Branden Grace, who is looking to win his third straight competition, but ended up being 3-over par on the first day.

There is still a very long way to go before we see how this all shakes out, but it was a solid start to 2012 competition for Tiger, who is currently ranked No. 25 in the world.

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