DORAL, Florida (REUTERS) - Tiger Woods stormed into contention at the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Saturday, shooting a six-under-par 66 to grab the early clubhouse lead midway through the third round.

The world number one finished at one-under par overall, just two shots behind the co-leaders, Dustin Johnson, Jason Dufner, Patrick Reed and Hunter Mahan, who all had nine holes still to play.

With the punishing winds that created havoc on Friday giving way to calmer conditions, the Blue Monster course lost much of its bite, allowing emboldened golfers to attack the pins.

Woods, six strokes back when the day began, immediately went on the charge, making birdies on two of his opening three holes and finished well-placed to make a run at an eighth WGC-Cadillac title.

He made a total of eight birdies in his round but gave back two shots with bogeys at the fourth and 13th holes, both par threes.

Johnson had looked ready to sit alone atop the leaderboard heading into the turn until he bogeyed the ninth to create a four way log jam at two-under.