DORAL, Fla. – Rory McIlroy came into the Cadillac Championship insisting that everything about his game is solid right now, and that his ability to contend rested solely on his mental game.

His mind must be right, because he played a mistake-free third round at Doral on Saturday.

McIlroy made four birdies and no bogeys in the third round on the Blue Monster, his 4-under 68 getting him to 12 under for the week and three shots ahead of Adam Scott and defending champion Dustin Johnson with 18 holes left in the first World Golf Championships event of the season.

“I just played a really solid round of golf,” McIlroy said.

If he wins Sunday, McIlroy would go over $30 million in career PGA Tour earnings, and could get handed the trophy by the course owner himself. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump said he will attend Sunday’s final round, though it’s unclear how visible he will be or how much of the day he’ll spend at Doral.

“I think it’s Rory’s to lose, really,” said Danny Willett, who shot 72 and is in a group five shots off the pace. “We’re going to have to go out there and play clever and play aggressive when we can, and hopefully we can knock a few birdies off and post a good number.”

McIlroy’s made nine birdies and nine bogeys or worse in two rounds last week at The Honda Classic, which is why his preparation for Doral could start two days early with a missed cut there.

At Doral, he hasn’t been flawless, but close enough. McIlroy’s last bogey was on the second hole in his second round.

In 34 holes since, it’s been 11 birdies and 23 pars, fueling his climb atop the leaderboard. He took the lead with a birdie at the par-4 fifth, one of only eight made on that hole Saturday. And he escaped brushes with the sand on each of his last two holes, keeping his mistake-free streak intact.

“I’ve seen Rory play some great golf,” Scott said. “I think he’s going to be very satisfied with that round. Looked like he was under total control.”

McIlroy’s tee ball at the par-4 17th found a bunker – with the wind picking up a bit – so he simply knocked his second onto the green and two-putted from 45 feet. And his approach from the middle of the fairway on 18 landed in a greenside bunker, but he knocked in a testy 6-footer for par to cap the round.

“My first bogey-free round of the year,” McIlroy said. “To do it in a round like this is very pleasing.”

Johnson gave himself a chance to end his day with a great par, then missed a 4-footer. After spraying his tee shot way right, Johnson punched out and then knocked a wedge close. But he missed the par try and fell to 9 under for the tournament, 1 under for the round.

Johnson rallied from five shots back in the final round to win last year at Doral. This time, his deficit is only three.

“Anything’s possible,” Johnson said. “With this golf course, there’s trouble on just about every hole, so I just need to go out and keep playing like I’m playing. I feel like I’m playing really well. Today I missed a couple short putts and didn’t really hole any putts and still shot 1 under on a tough day. So I’m pleased with that.”

Willett, Bubba Watson (71) and Phil Mickelson (70) are tied for fourth, five shots off the lead. World No. 1 Jordan Spieth struggled again, his round of 73 leaving him at 2 under for the week and tied for 17th place.

Spieth played with Justin Thomas, who followed up a 66 on Friday with a 78 on Saturday.

“A rough day for us both,” Thomas said.

SINGAPORE – South Korea’s Ha Na Jang shot a flawless 4-under 68 on Saturday to grab a one-stroke lead heading into the final round of the HSBC Women’s Champions tournament.

Chasing her second LPGA title this year, the 23-year-old racked up four birdies and her second straight bogey-free round to lead the tournament on 12-under 204 then headed back to the practice range for some more golf.

“My nickname is Enjoy Ha Na, Energizer Ha Na,” Jang told reporters. “It’s really good my nickname. I want to show every day, I enjoy playing golf.”

Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum knocked in six birdies in her 68 to end the third round in outright second at 11-under, one clear of the South Korean pair of Amy Yang and Mirim Lee.

Yang reeled off five birdies in her last eight holes for a 68 to charge up the leaderboard while the overnight co-leader Lee signed for a 70 after a mixed day where she made five birdies and three bogeys.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson carded a 5-under 67 Saturday to climb the leaderboard. She’s among a group of six players who finished two shots behind them at 8-under, setting the stage for an exciting finish on Sunday with the top 10 separated by just four strokes.

DORAL, Fla. – A rare instance of Adam Scott seeming less than pleased Friday came after his first putt on the par-4 16th, when he miscalculated the speed and left the 30-footer well short.

Of course, that was after he drove the green on the 315-yard hole and had to merely settle for a two-putt birdie.

Otherwise, there wasn’t much for Scott to dislike during the second round of the Cadillac Championship. His 6-under round of 66 got him to 10 under for the tournament and put last week’s winner of The Honda Classic two shots clear of Rory McIlroy and defending champion Dustin Johnson at the midway point of the first World Golf Championships event of the season.

“Overall, it was a lot of good stuff,” Scott said. “Enough quality shots and enough quality putts to negate a couple of mistakes out there, but they can easily happen on this golf course. So I’m glad there was enough of the good stuff to keep me up on top and kind of setting the pace after halfway.”

Scott made eight birdies, including three straight on holes 15, 16 and 17 to strengthen his grip on the lead.

“I’m probably a little more relaxed this week leading going into the weekend than if I hadn’t won last week,” Scott said. “A 36-hole lead doesn’t mean that much, unless it’s by about 10. I could tee off tomorrow and not be leading. I’m going to have to play a good couple of days and try to keep moving in the right direction while the conditions are allowing us to.”

He’s right – with relatively gentle breezes, the Blue Monster wasn’t exactly defenseless but scores were there to be had Friday, as in the opening round. There were 25 rounds where a player went under 70 at Doral last year; so far this year, the count is already at 21 with the weekend left to go.

Johnson shot a flawless 64, eight birdies and no dropped shots on the way to the best round of the day. McIlroy shot a 65 for his share of second place after two rounds, and Danny Willett (66) was alone in fourth at 7 under.

“I think the golf course is fantastic,” Johnson said. “It’s in great shape. The greens are perfect. It’s not an easy golf course.”

McIlroy announced his arrival with a four-hole barrage of birdies on the front side, but the catalyst to all that, he said, was what came immediately before that streak. Going with a left-hand-low grip this week on the greens, McIlroy made a testy 7-footer to save par at the par-3 fourth hole – and that’s when the run of birdies started.

“There was a lot of big momentum putts in there that I have not been holing,” McIlroy said. “So to see those drop today and to be as comfortable as I was, it feels really good and obviously I’m very happy with where I’m at going into the weekend.”

Phil Mickelson got to 9 under at one point, leading by three – until the two shortest holes on the course led to his undoing.

Mickelson three-putted from 55 feet for bogey on the 191-yard 13th, and made an enormous blunder at the 139-yard 15th by putting his tee ball into the water. That led to double-bogey, the only one made on the hole all day and essentially costing him nearly 2 1-2 strokes against the rest of the field. Mickelson made a 5; on average, everyone else made 2.68.

“I just kind of lost my train of thought,” Mickelson said. “I’ll be fresh and ready for the weekend. I feel like I’m driving the ball extremely well and my iron game is sharp. And even though that back nine wasn’t what I wanted, it was kind of an anomaly. It’s going to be a good weekend.”

SINGAPORE – South Korea’s Ha Na Jang has developed a habit of making the extraordinary seem normal.

In January, she made a hole-in-one on a par-4 and last month she won her first U.S. LPGA Tour title, at the Coates Golf Championship in Florida.

Jang was at it again on Friday, holing a monster eagle putt from off the green on her way to a 6-under 66 to grab a share of the halfway lead with compatriot Mirim Lee at the HSBC Women’s Champions.

“I was very comfortable on the front nine,” Jang said. “I was talking to myself, ‘Don’t do too much thinking … just be patient.'”

Lee got up and down from a greenside bunker to birdie the last and shoot a 67 to join Jang in a two-way tie at the top of a congested leaderboard after a wet and windy second round at Sentosa Golf Club.

Thailand’s Pornaning Phatlum carded a 67 and Norway’s Suzann Petterson signed for a 69 to be equal third, a stroke behind the leading pair, with a group of four players lurking just one shot further behind and a total of 34 players under par.

The joint overnight leaders, Taiwanese veteran Candie Kung and Australian teenager Minjee Lee both finished strongly after mixed rounds to remain in contention.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson carded a sub-par round of 71 to put her two-day tally at 3-under-par 141. She’s 5-shots off the lead heading to the weekend.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH and DAYTONA BEACH, FL – The PGA TOUR and the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) announced that they have formalized their longstanding cooperative relationship by entering into a long-term, written strategic alliance agreement designed to further promote the growth of golf.  This partnership between the leading men’s and women’s professional golf tours will include areas such as schedule coordination, joint marketing programs, domestic television representation, digital media and exploring the potential development of joint events.

“From our collaboration in bringing golf back as an Olympic sport as joint members of the International Golf Federation to our cooperation in helping to grow the game of golf as part of the World Golf Foundation, our two organizations have had a long history of working together for the common good of our sport,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem.  “Extending our relationship with the LPGA into these new areas is a natural extension of this work and collaboration.”

“We believe the PGA TOUR has significant expertise in the areas that we will focus on together and working more closely with them carries with it the very real potential of positively impacting our members, our tournaments, and our ability to grow our sport around the world,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan.  “We look forward to working with the PGA TOUR team to deliver a positive impact for our sport.”

Both organizations emphasized that while the alliance strengthens their relationship and the potential benefits of working together in these various areas are attractive for the overall growth of the sport, it involves no formal financial investment or transfer of ownership or control.  Both parties remain wholly separate and independent organizations.

DORAL, Fla. – Phil Mickelson’s scores from Doral over the past two years clearly suggested that the redesigned Blue Monster wasn’t completely to his liking.

He had to re-learn a course that he played for more than 20 years, and indicated Thursday that he finally has the new Doral figured out.

Mickelson shot a 5-under 67 on Thursday in the opening round of the Cadillac Championship, the first World Golf Championships event of the year. Seeking his first win since the British Open in 2013, Mickelson made seven birdies and finished the day one shot back of leaders Scott Piercy and Marcus Fraser.

“There is a bit of a learning curve on some of the contours and where you have to go and where you want to go and the best place to be,” Mickelson said. “It’s not like I came in here weeks before and mapped it out like a major. You’re here only the week of. But this is our third year here now and it continues to get better each year.”

Fraser had seven birdies before his lone bogey of the day, and Piercy also got to 7 under at one point before settling for his 66.

Mickelson made bogey only twice, immediately erasing each with a birdie on the following hole, and the 67 was nearly six full shots better than his average round score at Doral in his previous two visits.

His best round on the Blue Monster in 2014 was a 69, and his low score at Doral last year was 71.

“It was a good day,” said Mickelson, who feigned disbelief when his chip on the par-5 8th – his 17th of the day – stopped inches from the hole, leaving him a tap-in birdie. “I hit a lot of good shots, made some good putts and just drove it well, enjoyed the day. It was a good day.”

Danny Willett, Adam Scott, Jason Dufner and Charley Hoffman were all two shots back of Piercy, each carding 68s. World No. 1 Jordan Spieth was in a group another shot back, three off the pace at 3 under, and said that even on a relatively calm day by Doral weather standards, it felt like a grind.

“It always is here,” Spieth said. “And this would be a day that should play about as easy as it possibly can with just a 5- to 10-mile-an-hour breeze. The standard wind here I think. Still, the scores aren’t extremely low.”

Spieth was in a featured group, with world No. 2 Jason Day and No. 3 Rory McIlroy with him. McIlroy shot 1 under, Day finished at even par.

“Human error, unfortunately,” Day said. “I wish I could hit it in the centre of the golf club all the time but sometimes I’m like an amateur and I hit it in the parts where we’re not supposed to. But that’s how it is.”

Piercy spent eight hours on the range Monday working on a change to his backswing and saw immediate results, making seven birdies in his first 11 holes. Being atop a World Golf Championships leaderboard on Sunday is far different than on a Thursday, but it’s a most positive sign for Piercy – a three-time winner on tour including the RBC Canadian Open – who shot better than 66 only once in his first 24 stroke-play rounds in WGC events.

“We all know we’re trying to beat those guys week-in, week-out,” Piercy said. “They have proved it. I haven’t proven it week-in, week-out, but when my game’s there I’m pretty decent. We all know they are there. They are looking at my name today. So maybe they will do it tomorrow.”

Past winners at Doral struggled a bit. Defending champion Dustin Johnson shot an even-par 72, putting him in a tie for 28th. And 2014 winner Patrick Reed could get nothing going, his 5-over 77 beating only three other players.

Mickelson won on the previous version of the Blue Monster, a course he knew as well as anyone. And Thursday showed he’s got a chance to do just fine on the redesign as well.

“I’m not going to complain,” Mickelson said.

SINGAPORE – Australian teenager Minjee Lee took a share of the lead with Taiwan’s Candie Kung at the LPGA’s Women’s Champions tournament in Singapore on Thursday.

Lee made four birdies and an eagle in her opening round of 5-under 67 to join Kung at the top of the leaderboard on a windy day at the Sentosa Golf Club.

The defending champion, South Korea’s Inbee Park, was among a group of four players tied for third at 4-under 68.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson carded five birdies compared to three bogeys to open with a 2-under 70. She’s tied for 12th with a slew of players including Angela Stanford, Cristie Kerr and Sandra Gal.

World No. 1 Lydia Ko and in-form Lexi Thompson both shot rounds of 1-under 71.

Ko had a frustrating day, parring her first 10 holes before dropping a shot on the 11th but the New Zealander knocked in two late birdies to finish in red figures.

“I didn’t have that many birdie opportunities today, so unless my long putts were going to be hot, I wasn’t going to shoot extremely low,” she said.

Thompson, who won in Thailand last week, made four birdies but lost her momentum when she took a double-bogey on the 11th.

MONTGOMERY, Texas – An 11-year-old from Texas had a day he’ll never forget on the golf course – and it happened with Tiger Woods watching.

Woods was on hand for the opening Wednesday of The Playgrounds at Bluejack National, which he helped design.

Taylor Crozier stepped up to the first tee and knocked in the inaugural shot on the 81-yard, par 3. The crowd went wild.

Woods posted the YouTube video on his Twitter page. He ran over to the boy and gave him a big bear hug, smiling and laughing.

Woods shouted to the crowd, the “inaugural shot and he holes it!”

Woods has been taking time off from competitive golf as he recovers from back operations.

DORAL, Fla. – Rory McIlroy is shaking up his putting technique by going to a cross-handed grip for the Cadillac Championship, and he plans to stick with it.

McIlroy posted a video on Instagram that showed him putting with the left hand low, and then he confirmed Wednesday in his news conference that it was worth a try. He said he typically practices that way to make sure he keeps the right hand from influencing the putting stroke.

Put some good work in the last few days, ready for the blue monster this week!

A video posted by Rory McIlroy (@rorymcilroy) on Mar 2, 2016 at 3:46am PST

“It’s a drill that I’ve always done,” he said. “And I’ve putted a lot just with my left hand. It’s one of those things where the drill started to feel a little bit better than the real thing, so I’m just going to stick with it.”

The catalyst for change was the Honda Classic, where McIlroy missed the cut with rounds of 72-72.

He said there were a couple of putts in the second round that he knew he was going to miss before he even made contact because his right hand was too active.

“So it was, ‘I need to do something here,'” he said. “I was sort of playing around with a few different grips on the putting green over the weekend. This one felt more natural to me because I’ve done it before and I do it quite a lot when I’m just practicing in drills. I thought, ‘Why not give it a go?'”

McIlroy plays the opening two rounds at Trump National Doral with Jordan Spieth and Jason Day, the two players ahead of him in the world ranking. Spieth also putts with his left hand low, and he is regarded among the best medium-length putters in golf.

McIlroy said he used the cross-handed grip at times during his rookie year on the European Tour in 2008. Since then, he has won 18 times around the world, including four majors. The Masters is just over a month away, the one major McIlroy needs to complete the career Grand Slam.

It sounded as though he would be taking that grip to Augusta National.

“I feel like it’s something I’m going to stick with regardless of what the outcome is tomorrow or this week or next week,” he said. “I really do feel like it helps me put a stroke on it that I want to. It’s a great feeling. I feel like it gives my putting stroke a bit more of a better rhythm, as well, a better flow. Look, if it doesn’t work right from the get-go tomorrow, you’re not going to see me on Friday morning putting conventional again. It’s something I’m going to stick with for a while.”

DORAL, Fla. – Tiger Woods says he is starting to feel better, though he is not sure when he will return to competitive golf.

Woods released a statement Wednesday saying he has been chipping and putting at home in Florida as his recovery from back surgeries progresses. He says he and his son, Charlie, are competing in three-hole chipping contests.

Woods has not played in a tournament since August, and he has not won since August 2013. He says, “I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

Woods will appear later Wednesday at a news conference near Houston to announce the opening of a 10-hole short course designed for families.