Carnoustie, Scotland ? It was moving day at the British Open on Saturday, but Tiger Woods went in the wrong direction. His chances for an Open three-peat grew dimmer when he lost ground on tournament leader Sergio Garcia and with a 212 total, he goes into the final round trailing by eight shots with 14 players to pass.

Woods will have to post a low number early to put any pressure on the leaders, unlike his missed opportunity at this year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont, where he started two shots off the pace playing in the final group with Aaron Baddeley, and at Augusta, where he was one shot shy of Stuart Appleby playing in the final group.

Woods won neither, of course. He never has won a major coming from behind and this would take a Herculean effort.

Not that he’s counting himself out.

“I’ve got to be playing a little better than I have been, that’s for sure,” he said after his 2-under par 69 on the best scoring day of the tournament. “But at least I gave myself a chance going into tomorrow. Paul (Lawrie) came from 10 back in ’99. Certainly you can do it around this golf course.”

The problem is that Jean Van de Velde isn’t leading this time. Garcia is playing with great confidence and if he falters, Woods still has to leapfrog Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh and another major winner in Mike Weir.

Woods had an up-and-down ball-striking day, but his two bogeys came as a result of short-game failures. He missed a four-foot putt for par on the second and made a poor chip on No. 10, running it 10 feet past the hole. He failed to reach either of the par-5 holes in two, although he managed to birdie the 14th.

The other par-5, the sixth, was probably the turning point of his day. He had just birdied two straight holes and was “feeling great.”