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Woods closing on Nelson's record
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida, Oct 23 -- Tiger Woods is one round from more golfing history after a six-under-par 66 at the Funai Classic - three shots behind surprise leader Brenden Pappas of South Africa at the Disney resort in Florida. Barring an unexpected disaster, Woods will now match Byron Nelson's long-standing PGA Tour record of 113 straight cuts, set in the 1940's, on Friday. Fiji's Vijay Singh, who is battling Woods to top the U.S. money list, is one shot behind Pappas on 64. Woods was a little disappointed with his score, because he was at six-under after just 11 holes on the Palm course, the easier of the two layouts used for the 4 million-dollar event, but could only par the final seven holes in pleasant morning conditions. "The greens were soft and smooth, and you could be aggressive," said the two-time Disney champion. "I played solid all day and kept myself out of trouble. I only missed two greens, but you had to make some putts. I did that early but did not make any putts coming home. "On top of that, I did not really hit it close enough either, so realistically they were not great chances. I had opportunities with wedges to get the ball close, and I didn't." Singh keeps up pressureSingh helped his cause with a bogey-free round round at the Magnolia. "I putted really well. I just hope I can putt like this all week," Singh said. "If I do, I am going to have a good chance of winning. I started shaky, had a great chip in on number three, and gained some momentum from there." Joining world number three Singh a stroke off the lead were Pat Perez and John Huston, twice a winner of this tournament, in a tie for second place. Rocco Mediate, David Peoples and Dan Forsman shared fifth on 65. Australia's Geoff Ogilvy, former U.S. Open champion Corey Pavin, Ben Crane, Dicky Pride, Paul Azinger, Scott Verplank and John Rollins are with Woods and Pappas's brother Deane on 66. Four of the world's top five players are in this week's field. In addition to Woods and Singh, number four Davis Love III opened with a 67 and number five Jim Furyk had a 70. Pappas, 33, had a difficult time with his driver early on, missing fairways mostly on the right at Magnolia. A hot putter, however, kept a lack-luster start from getting worse and eventually led to a stretch of nine birdies over 13 holes. Playing in only his second full season on the PGA Tour, Pappas is still getting accustomed to playing at such a high level. Last year he earned only $83,519 and finished 206th on the money list. This year he made the cut in three of his first four events and surpassed his money total of 2002 when he tied for 17th to earn $53,886 at the Nissan Open in February. Pappas followed up with a third place in the Chrysler Classic of Tucson and pocketed $204,000. By the end of May, he had won enough money to be certain of remaining exempt for 2004. The South African ranks 49th on the money list with more than $1.2 million. In the last three weeks, Pappas finished second in the Southern Farm Bureau Classic, missed the cut in Las Vegas and tied for fifth at Greensboro.
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