Tiger Woods reacts after missing a putt on the 18th hole. Woods fired a 68 on Saturday in Miami.

Miami ? Tiger Woods set the tone early with a 4-iron that cut through the stiff wind and landed 10 feet away for eagle. He kept everyone at a distance Saturday by avoiding calamity on the Blue Monster’s brutal closing hole.

With only one mistake on a windy day filled with them, Woods shot 4-under 68 and stretched his lead to four shots in the CA Championship, leaving him poised to capture his third straight title at Doral and send him to the Masters on a high.

About the only intrigue came from Sergio Garcia.

Disgusted by missing yet another short putt, the 27-year-old Spaniard tapped in for a three-putt bogey and then spit into the cup. Garcia didn’t deny this lapse in etiquette, only its effect on the guys playing behind him.

“I just missed the putt and I wasn’t too happy,” Garcia told NBC Sports. “Don’t worry. It did go in the middle (of the cup) and wasn’t going to affect anyone else. If it did, I would have wiped it off.”

Asked about the incident after the TV interview, he snapped, “I just said it. I’m not going to repeat it.”

Garcia wound up with a 71 and was seven shots behind, but he had plenty of company.

Woods again wiped out the field with superb shots and by making enough putts to reach 11-under 205. He is 38-3 on the PGA Tour with at least a share of the 54-hole lead, and he has never lost when leading by more than one.

Brett Wetterich had a 67 and will play in the final group today.

Along with owning Doral, Woods has won this World Golf Championship the last two years (in San Francisco and London), and five out of seven times. He will be trying to win his 13th WGC event since the series began in 1999.

“If you’re leading, usually you’re playing halfway decent,” Woods said. “Hopefully, tomorrow I can handle my business.”

Nick O’Hern, who ended Woods’ seven-tournament winning streak on the PGA Tour by beating him in the Accenture Match Play Championship a month ago, played bogey-free for a 66 and was another shot behind at 6-under 210.

Ernie Els got to within one shot of the lead midway through the round until he quit making birdies, then took double bogey on the 18th hole that started with an errant drive and ended with a bunker shot that went over the green. He had to settle for a 71. Els was in the group at 211 that included Vijay Singh (69), Thomas Bjorn (71), Aaron Baddeley (71) and Charles Howell III, whose bogey on the final hole ruined a spirited rally and left him with a 71.