Tiger Woods has shown he can put together a series of sub-par rounds.
Contending in consecutive tournaments has been more difficult.
Woods took small consolation on Saturday after his first bogey-free round of the year, mainly because he managed only three birdies at The Northern Trust on a soft Ridgewood Country Club that is yielding plenty of them.
He made a 6-foot birdie putt on his last hole - no sure thing the way his week has been going -- for a three-under 68.
That gives him seven birdies for 54 holes.
Bryson DeChambeau made nine birdies on moving day alone in his round of 63 to lead by four shots, 13 shots ahead of Woods.
"That's not going to get it done," Woods said.
"As soft as it is, these guys are making a boat load of birdies. And I just haven't made any."
It wasn't a lack of chances.
Woods missed six birdie putts from 12 feet or closer.
He has hit nine out of 14 fairways all three rounds and he rarely was out of position when he did miss the greens in the third round.
He's just not seeing many putts go in, mainly because he says he can't get the right line with the right speed.
On a few occasions, he's asked caddie Joe LaCava to help read the putts. It hasn't mattered.
"I'm just not seeing the lines this week," Woods said.
Such is golf. Woods chalked it up on more than one occasion to "one of those weeks."
But it extends a peculiar pattern this year of looking as though he were on the verge of winning, and then taking a step back.
He had two straight weeks at the end of the Florida swing where he got within one shot of the lead on the back nine, and then he showed up at the Masters and finished in the middle of the pack. Woods showed plenty of momentum at The Players Championship (65-69 weekend) and the Memorial (67-68 in the middle two rounds), and then he missed the cut at the US Open.
One week after he briefly had the lead in the final round at the British Open, he tied for 31st at Firestone on a course where he has won eight times.
He was runner-up at the PGA Championship in his most recent start and now is playing for little more than pride or FedEx Cup points.
But all is not lost heading into Sunday with Woods setting himself a target of 10 under for the week in New Jersey, before the next event at TPC Boston.
He started the FedEx Cup playoffs at No.20, and with only 30 players advancing to the Tour Championship, he still has some work left.
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