SYDNEY — Tiger Woods waited 11 months before he found himself in the lead at a golf tournament.

It took him three holes to lose it Saturday in the Australian Open.

He opened the third round at The Lakes with three straight bogeys. He had birdie putts inside 18 feet on five consecutive holes and didn’t make any of them. He made up no ground on the three par 5s on the back nine.

Woods wound up with a 3-over 75, going from a one-shot lead to six shots behind John Senden going into the final round.

“I just got off to an awful start,” Woods said.

It didn’t get much better.

In a light breeze and sunshine over Sydney, only eight players had a worse score than Woods.