Tiger Woods hits his birdie putt on the 18th green forcing a playoff against Rocco Mediate during the fourth round of the US Open championship at Torrey Pines Golf Course yesterday in San Diego.

In the final group for the sixth time in the last eight majors, this one was packed with curiosity over the state of his knee, and it showed. Fans stood 25 rows deep behind the tee, and those in the top row of the bleachers on the 18th hole turned to watch. Among those in the crowd was his swing coach, Hank Haney, who pleaded as Woods settled over the tee shot, "C'mon, buddy."

Woods double-bogeyed No. 1 for the third time in four rounds and after a three-putt bogey, his fourth of the week, on No. 2, he didn't make another mistake until the 13th.

He tried to reach the 13th green in two from 291 yards when a birdie was not necessary, then pulled it into a hazard and walked off with bogey to slip one shot behind Mediate, who had birdied the 14th ahead of him.

Woods then laid up with an iron on the 14th, where the tees were moved up to make it play only 267 yards, hit a sand wedge 20 feet beyond the hole and made par. And two shots into the right rough on the 15th led to a bogey that put him one shot behind.

Standing over an all-or-nothing putt on the last hole, Woods again delivered.

It was reminiscent of the 2000 US PGA Championship at Valhalla, where he made a six-foot birdie putt that broke both ways to get into a playoff against Bob May, the critical piece on his way to four straight majors.

"It feels very similar to what Valhalla felt like," Woods said. "If I didn't make that putt, I don't get to continue to keep playing. At best, I gave myself a chance to win the tournament tomorrow. And that's all I can ask for."

Westwood, trying to become the first European in 38 years to win the US Open, fell one stroke short. He had a one-shot lead at the turn and fought to stay in the game after consecutive bogeys early on the back nine.

"A little wobbly down there," he said of the poa greens, a grass that gets bumpier in the afternoon sun. "I played probably 2 holes outside right. Just take it back and make a pure stroke, because once it starts slowing down there ... you don't know what's going to happen. All I could control is my stroke."

The birdie concluded a week in which Woods played the first two rounds with Phil Mickelson, shot 30 on his back nine on Friday to get into contention, took the 54-hole lead on Saturday with two eagle putts totaling 100 feet, and wobbled on a knee that often turned a megawatt smile into a painful grimace.

The knee, which sidelined him from the Masters until this week, didn't seem to bother him as much yesterday, certainly not when he launched into the wildest celebration of the week.

"I took some things to kind of relieve that," Woods said of the soreness.

Adrenaline maybe?

"Uh, that helps, too," he said.

Mediate made only one bogey over the final 13 holes, seizing on his best chance to win a major. He grazed the edge of the cup on a 15-foot birdie try at the 17th and hit a wedge too strong on the 18th, both pars keeping Woods in the game.