Americans Stewart Cink and Bill Haas share the third-round lead at the Houston Open while Rory McIlroy again struggled in his quest to win and overtake Tiger Woods as golf’s world No.1.

Haas fired a five-under-par 67 while Cink, who has not won since defeating Tom Watson in a playoff at the 2009 British Open, shot a 68 to stand atop the leaderboard on 11-under 205, both nine strokes ahead of world No.2 McIlroy.

The US veteran Cink expects to feel a few butterflies as he tries to get back to the winner’s circle in Sunday’s final round.

“I’ll be nervous and I definitely will not be ignoring the fact that I’ll feel a little bit nervous tomorrow, but that’s just natural human behavior and I’m looking forward to it,” Cink said.

“To get back in the hunt is what you play golf for.”

Americans Ben Crane, DA Points, Steve Wheatcroft and Jason Kokrak are locked one-shot off the lead while Matt Jones is the leading Australian at five-under for the tournament after shooting a third round of two-under.

Woods, a 14-time major champion chasing the all-time record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, won his third event of the year last week at Bay Hill to pass McIlroy and take the top spot in the rankings for the first time since 2010.

McIlroy, who has played only 11 competitive rounds this year, could reclaim the top spot with a victory this week but he only made the cut on the number and stumbled late on his way to a 71 on Saturday.

Even though he made little headway on the leaderboard, McIlroy was pleased with his round.

“I hit the ball really well,” he said. “It’s the best I’ve hit it on the golf course this week. So I take a lot of positives from it.”

McIlroy has made sure he’ll get more play before the Masters early next month by adding next week’s Texas Open in San Antonio to his schedule. He committed to the tournament on Friday afternoon.

“I think it’s a good decision, and I’m obviously looking forward to getting a few more rounds under our belt going into Augusta,” he said.