¡¡¡¡WASHINGTON, June 16 (Xinhuanet) -- Tiger Woods overcame a shaky start to close in on his second title at the U.S. Open championship in Farmingdale, New York, on Sunday.

¡¡¡¡He is now leading with four strokes midway through the final round.

¡¡¡¡Woods had three-putt bogeys on the first two holes, which gave hopes to his closest challengers Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson andJeff Maggert.

¡¡¡¡The two failed, however, to take the advantage at the Bethpage Black Course.

¡¡¡¡Woods, who won his first Open at Pebble Beach in 2000, was fourshots in front of Mickelson, five ahead of Maggert and six in front of Garcia.

¡¡¡¡He started the sunday day with a four-shot lead over Garcia, with a 1-over 36. Woods was 4 under for the tournament to become the only player beating par.

¡¡¡¡He rolled in a 20-foot (6-meter) putt at No. 7 for his first birdie of the round. On the same hole, his playing partner Garciamissed the green with his approach, chipped 6 feet (1.8 meters) past the hole and blew the par-saving putt.

¡¡¡¡The two-shot swing pushed Woods to a five-stroke lead over the young Spaniard.

¡¡¡¡Garcia fell apart at No. 9, where he flew his second shot into the rough behind the green, knocked his pitch back into the tall grass and wound up with a bogey.

¡¡¡¡Mickelson birdied the first hole after getting a kick out of the rough, which pushed him to 1 under.

¡¡¡¡Woods came along a few minutes later and missed a 5-foot (1.5-meter) shot to save par, pulling Garcia and Mickelson to within three strokes.

¡¡¡¡Woods' putter failed him again at the second hole, where he lipped out a 2-foot (0.6-meter) shot for another bogey. But he kept hitting fairways and playing things safe into the green, while his rivals fell apart.

¡¡¡¡Mickelson struggled to take consecutive bogeys when he missed the green at both 5 and 6. Garcia couldn't make a good putt, noteddown three bogeys and made the turn with a 38.

¡¡¡¡Maggert registeed a double-bogey at No. 3.

¡¡¡¡Woods could become the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1972to win the first two majors of the year. No one has ever won the Grand Slam, though Woods held all four major titles at the same time after winning the 2000 Masters.

¡¡¡¡The superstar has up to now won seven major championships. Enditem