Matt Kuchar takes third-round lead at Memorial

• Matt Kuchar shot a third-round 70 to take the lead at the Memorial
• He leads Kevin Chappell and Kyle Stanley by two shots
• Tiger Woods faded with a 79

DUBLIN, Ohio — On a day when calm ceded the spotlight to high winds and menacing greens, and crazy incidents were happening around every dogleg — Tiger Woods shot 79, for crying out loud — unflappable Matt Kuchar assumed control of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village.

As steady as the wind was blustery despite his 6-4 frame, Kuchar continued his rock-solid play this year to grab a two-shot lead heading into Sunday's final round. Kuchar shot a second consecutive 2-under-par 70 and is at 8 under through 54 holes, two clear of Kevin Chappell (68) and Kyle Stanley (73).

The 68s shot by Chappell and J.J. Henry were the low rounds of the day when winds gusted to 30 mph. Only 19 players among the 73 broke par. The field average was 73.60. There were three scores in the 80s. Woods shot 79, Rory McIlroy 75. Bill Haas, the overnight leader, shot 76.

"This place is really challenging, particularly with winds at 25 miles an hour all day. It was a bit of a survival (test)," Kuchar said. "I was fortunate to make a handful of birdies. I think anytime you make a birdie in these conditions, you feel like you're really up on the field here.

"Most of these holes you're looking to just get out with a par. Putting in this much wind and on greens that are this fast is always really challenging. The only time you make any sort of putt you feel pretty good."

The third round, which saw tee times moved up and threesomes used off both the first and 10th tees because of impending storms, dodged the weather bullet unlike Friday, when three weather delays stretched the second round to Saturday morning. The storm front, however, has not fizzled out altogether. Tournament officials have delayed the final round's tee times because storms could hit Sunday morning. Players will again go off in threesomes off both the first and 10th tees starting at 10:45 a.m. ET.

Nothing, however, would seem to bother Kuchar. With five top-10s this season, including a victory in the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship (when snow interrupted the event), and a runner-up finish in last week's Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, he is one of the top contenders every week he plays.

"I feel really confident," said Kuchar, who won the 2012 Players Championship. "I had some good stuff going on last week, carrying into this week. It's nice to see it keep going and to have another chance to win late on Sunday will be fun.

"Fortunately, I feel like I've been in pretty good control of what I've been doing and able to survive. So I wasn't paying too much attention to the other guys. I knew coming in with these sorts of winds it was going to be difficult."

Woods almost matched the worst score of his professional career. The world No. 1 shot 79, two strokes below his all-time worst that came in the third round of the 2002 British Open at Muirfield in Scotland.

Woods, the event's only five-time winner and this year's defending champion, averaged 69.14 strokes per round in his last 11 starts at the place Jack Nicklaus built heading into this year. But with three bogeys, two double-bogeys and one triple-bogey, Woods matched the highest score he's ever shot in the United States. He also set one dubious record – his 8-over-par 44 on the back nine was the worst nine-hole score of his career.

"It was a rough day. It was tough out there from beginning to end," said Woods, who did not talk to news reporters but summarized his round to a PGA Tour official. He is 8 over. "We didn't hit that many bad shots starting out the day and the next thing you know, we are quite a few over par. It was a tough day. I tried to fight back on the back nine, just didn't quite materialize.

"It's just one of those things where I'm sure I'm not the only one who struggled out there. The conditions were tough, and when I missed, it cost me. I caught the wrong gusts at the wrong time, made a couple bad swings and all in all it just went the wrong way."

Much was going to the right way for Chappell, who won once on the Web.com Tour and is in good position to win his first PGA Tour title.

"I just really tried to stay patient," Chappell said. "I knew it was going to be tough. If you missed a green you had to know where you wanted to miss it to give yourself a chance. Just stick to my game plan and go from there."

Chappell said the biggest challenge was trust.

"Just trusting that the wind was where it was supposed to be. There were multiple times you're seeing the wind blow the flag the opposite way as it's supposed to be, just the way the wind is swirling down, just being able to trust that you're going to start the ball over the lake, and the wind is going to blow it, even though the flag is blowing the other way.

"We all work hard on our games. I think on days like today, you have to let yourself play well. You know you're going to get bad breaks, you know you're going to get good breaks. Just take advantage of some opportunities and stay really patient. If you had told me I would shoot 4-under par today on the first tee, I would have gladly gone and had a milkshake. I don't know if there's a formula for it or a reason, but we all work hard. And you hope that your work pays off."