A grinding Tiger Woods struggled on the greens but birdied the 18th to retain his one-stroke lead and repel the challenges of Sergio Garcia, Chris DiMarco and Ernie Els in the British Open third round on Saturday.
The world number one mixed five birdies with four bogeys to return a one-under 71 for a 13-under aggregate of 203.
A turbo-charged Garcia produced the best performance of the day as his seven-under 65 tied the course record for the revamped Hoylake layout and earned him a last group pairing with Woods on Sunday.
The 26-year-old Spaniard shared second place with Woods's U.S. Ryder Cup team mate DiMarco (69) and 2002 winner Els (71). A further shot adrift on 205 were Angel Cabrera of Argentina and American Jim Furyk.
Garcia, yet to deliver on the promise he showed as a youth and seeking his first win in a major, came within a stroke of the lowest nine holes in British Open history when he raced to the turn in only 29 shots.
He started in spectacular fashion, holing a nine-iron approach shot from 167 yards for an eagle two at the second before reeling off birdies at the fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth.
Briton Denis Durnian returned an outward half of 28 at Royal Birkdale in 1983.
But, as the skies turned grey and a gentle breeze developed, Garcia registered eight successive pars on the back nine before completing his round with another birdie at the last.
"I really had it going on the front nine and then I struggled with the pace of the greens," he told reporters. "These greens are getting brown and when I had to get from green parts to brown parts I was a little bit tentative.
"I did what I had to do. I've just got to keep playing the way I've been playing the last few days and especially today," said the Spaniard after producing a career-best Open score.
Woods missed a succession of putts, including a five-footer as he bogied the 14th where he had holed his approach for an eagle two on Friday.
But the 10-times major winner nudged back into the lead when he sank a three-footer for a birdie at the last.
DiMarco looked as though he was sliding out of contention when he dropped strokes at the seventh and ninth.
He hit back, though, with an inspired birdie hat-trick from the 11th and another birdie at the 16th.
While Garcia lit the front-nine fireworks it was Cabrera who burned up the inward half.
Bidding to emulate the victory by compatriot Roberto de Vicenzo, who won the title the last time the event was held at Hoylake 39 years ago, Cabrera came back in 32 with four birdies and an eagle to shoot a 66.
Earlier, the tournament burst into life with several stunning strokes all round the course.
Greg Owen of Britain (208) sunk a massive 60-foot birdie putt at the 11th while Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant (213) replicated Garcia's feat by holing his second shot for another eagle at the second.
Elsewhere, Carl Pettersson of Sweden (210) holed out from a bunker for an eagle three at the fifth.
Australian John Senden recorded the second hole-in-one of the week when he aced the 198-yard, par-three 13th with a six-iron on his way to a one-over 73 for 216.