Tiger Woods knows he'll need more to win Sunday

— -- GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The look on his face was one of disgust, and then he covered it up with his sweat-soaked hat to muffle whatever word he barked in anger. That was the Tiger of old -- not necessarily the old Tiger -- annoyed with the way he finished the third round of the Wyndham Championship.

It was mostly a day of positives for Tiger Woods at Sedgefield Country Club as he stayed in contention and gave himself a shot at his first victory in more than two years.

But a final-hole bogey -- after not making one all day -- falling 2 strokes back rather than 1 and dropping out of a final-group pairing with tournament leader Jason Gore, stung.

Woods' 68 was a step in the right direction after several third-round foibles this year, but it was also more like shooting par on a course that is yielding birdies as often as Woods' name has been screamed this week.

Gore shot 62, as did Jonas Blixt, on Saturday. Instead of being paired with his long-time buddy Gore, Woods will be a group in front with Scott Brown. Of the top 15 on the leaderboard, only Davis Love III's 69 was worse than Woods' score.

It was the Tiger who has won 79 PGA Tour events talking afterward, not the one who has suffered through two mostly brutal years of golf.

"It was a grind today,'' Woods said. "Like yesterday, kept leaving myself above the hole seemed like on every hole. I had to putt so defensively because of it. I couldn't get on the run that Jason and Jonas did. I just didn't put myself in the right spots.''

And that's where he looked like the old Tiger. Sweating profusely. Annoyed. Knowing an opportunity had been missed.

Woods at times appeared to be hurting, but never when taking a swing, which was powerful and forceful throughout. If there is an issue, Woods would only say that "I'm stiff,'' a day after joking that "I'm old.'' As for it affecting his game, it was difficult to say it did. He hit plenty of solid shots, perhaps just not always where he wanted them to go.

And so after a year of virtually no success, are we at the stage of nit-picking his game? That would be back to the Tiger of old, although it's not necessarily prudent at this point.

"It actually kind of upsets me, some of the people that treat him like he's a 20-handicapper,'' said Gore, 41, who goes back to his junior golf days with Woods in Southern California. "I'm not pointing fingers, but you know what the guy has done for the game, just bringing people in the game of golf. It's a lot of people out here.

"We all have better lives because of him and some of us have jobs because of him and I think it's awesome to see him playing well again, to see him playing like Tiger Woods, because that's what we all want to see.''

Woods' struggles have been tough to witness for many of his peers, even the ones who tired of losing to him. They know what he accomplished, and seeing this kind of fall to 286th in the world has been difficult to endure.

This is just Woods' 11th tournament of the year. He had played in a third round just five times, just the second time in those rounds he shot in the 60s. For the first time this year, he has put together three straight rounds in the 60s. And that 17th-place finish at the Masters remains his best.

A week after missing the cut in his third straight major, Woods is contending at a tournament he never dreamed of playing, which is probably the positive to take out of this, but in no way the manner in which Woods will approach Sunday's final round.

"I'm not looking at it that way, you know me,'' Woods said. "I'm two back right now. I can go out there tomorrow and make a run and get myself up there and make some birdies because there's a bunch of guys ... anybody can make a run and shoot the score that Jason and Jonas did.''

For the third straight day, Woods got the rock star treatment at Sedgefield, where it seemed everyone on the course was with his group. Over several holes on the front nine, a tall man wearing a straw had kept yelling, "I'm your biggest fan.'' When a putt would miss, there would be a primal scream, louder than the thousands of others who lined up along the ropes. "Literally waited my whole life to see you. Thanks for coming,'' he said.

Even Tiger couldn't ignore that, and acknowledged with a smile and a wave.

All of which made for an interesting front-row seat for rookie Tom Hoge, whose name Woods didn't even know the day prior. Hoge shot 72 to drop back into a tie for 21st, but is now wiser for the experience.

"It was crazy but it was great,'' he said. "Everybody was so supportive, the fans were awesome. It was fun to be there with Tiger, guy I looked up to growing up. Final group with him on a weekend and I played all right.''

With 18 holes remaining, Woods is closer to the lead than in any tournament since the 2014 WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral. That is where he played no practice rounds after withdrawing the week prior at the Honda Classic with a back problem. He shot a third-round 66, got into the second-to-last group, and was just 3 shots behind Patrick Reed.

But Woods didn't make a birdie in the final round, his back problems flaring up on the front nine. He shot 78, and a few weeks later, he had surgery, with a swing change thrown in later in the year.

Amid cries that he retire or that he was done, here he is with a chance to win -- and basically needing a victory to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs. Who could have seen that coming just a week ago?

Woods ought to be feeling pretty good about himself at the moment. But that pained expression coming off the 18th green told a different story, perhaps the best one of all. He's not satisfied, even if that would be a perfectly reasonable sentiment.