Vijay Singh accepts the fact that the Masters Tournament is not likely to allow the lift-clean-and-place option offered by the PGA Tour when a round begins under wet conditions.

That's why Singh was able to also accept the fact that his round of 72 in Saturday's third round might have been just as good a display of ball-striking as the 65 on Friday that gave him a one-shot lead when the second round officially concluded shortly before noon.

Singh said mud adhering to his ball on shots in the fairway on three holes in particular cost him three shots, including a bizarre scene on the par-5 15th hole when he hit a mud-caked ball from 202 yards out that hooked over the green and into the pond fronting the par-3 16th hole. It led to one of the two bogeys he suffered over the final four holes, dropping him out of a share of the lead at the time with Retief Goosen.

"I was quite happy with the way I struck the ball," said Singh, the 2000 Masters champion. "I was really penalized not by bad shots, but because I collected a lot of mud on the balls. You try to play to the fat side of the greens and hope it goes straight, but you make the best swing you can and look up, and the ball is going sideways. Those are things you don't have any control over."

Singh began the round a shot ahead of Goosen, lost the lead when Goosen birdied the first three holes, but regained a share of the lead with birdies at Nos. 5 and 6. The two kept pace with each other and were tied at 11-under through 14 holes.

Then came Singh's bogey at No. 15, which has played the easiest on the course all week, at nearly a half-stroke under par. After the mudball sailed into the pond at No. 16, Singh dropped, left his fourth shot short of the green, then chipped again and made a four-footer for bogey.

Singh bogeyed the 17th hole, again after he said he had to hit a mud-caked ball to the green, and managed to par No. 18 by getting up-and-down from the left side of the green and making an eight-foot par putt.

"If this was a regular (PGA) Tour event, we would play the ball up (lift-clean-and-replace)," said Singh, a native of Fiji. "In the U.S. Open, it's the same thing. It's just unfortunate that it happens. It's totally out of our control, and I don't think they (Augusta National) wants the Masters to play the ball up, anyway."

Singh said his position is hardly disastrous: He's in the second-to-last pairing of the day with Phil Mickelson, and only two shots off the lead.

"On this course, two shots is nothing," Singh said. "There are a lot of holes out there to catch up. If I go out there and make a few early birdies and be calm, and don't try to force things, we'll see what happens."