The world No 1 conjured a closing birdie four after a visit to the grandstand behind the 18th to card a five-under-par 67 and top the leaderboard with Hansen on 16 under par.

"It would be nice to win, " said Woods, who fired a fouriron approach directly into the grandstand before getting up and down from the dropping zone for his sixth birdie of the day.

"Look at the past champions . . . it's a pretty impressive list . . . but I've still got 18 more holes to go with a bunch of guys in with a chance. Hopefully tomorrow I can put together a good round and see what happens."

South Africa's Retief Goosen hit a two under par 70 to trail Hansen and Woods by a single stroke and head a posse of 10 players within five shots of the lead at the windswept Majalis course.

Goosen apart, Woods and Hansen will be well aware of the threat posed by the likes of Miguel Angel Jimenez, who hit a 66, and former champions Ernie Els and Richard Green, all of whom share fourth place on 14 under par.

Dubliner Peter Lawrie still has an outside chance of claiming his first European Tour title after playing the last eight holes in four under par.

The 2003 Rookie of the Year was one over par after 10 holes but birdied the par three 11th and then reeled off a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th to trail by four strokes after a three-underpar 69.

"I had a bit of a ropey start to be honest, " Lawrie explained. "My rhythm was poor and I drove the ball poorly but luckily enough my putter came good and I holed two monsters, one on the fifth hole from about 35 feet and one on the seventh from about 30 feet.

"I think 69 is a good score but the fact that there are so many good players ahead of me takes some pressure off me as regards winning.

"I'll just go out there tomorrow and do the best I can and whatever happens, happens.

They are not going to come back to me, so I suppose I have got to go to them."

Darren Clarke had threatened to head for the bar rather than the range on Friday. But he had no doubt about his post-round plans after playing "shocking" golf in a two under par 70.

"The range won yesterday and it's not going to win again today, " he announced, after finishing the day six strokes adrift. "The greens are firming up and it's getting tricky to get it close to the flag."

It was a similar story for Kells native Damien McGran, who did well to shoot a 73 for a seven under par total after going to the turn in four over par.

"It could have been millions, " McGrane confessed.

"My game was very iffy today and my putting seemed to save the day a little bit. But it's birdies you should be holing putts for and I was holing them for pars today."