DUBLIN, Ohio — Of all the people charting Tiger Woods’s progress as he tries to find his way back to the winner’s circle, Patrick Reed possesses perhaps the keenest perspective. Reed was grouped with Woods in the Bahamas in December during Woods’s first competitive round after his fourth back surgery, and Reed played alongside him again on Saturday during the third round of the Memorial Tournament.

Both times, Reed watched Woods produce shots so pure they could have been lifted from an instructional video. Both times, he saw Woods briefly grab a share of the lead. But it was the differences in the two rounds, played six months apart, that made the biggest impression on Reed.

Woods’s ball-striking is so solid, as evidenced by the majestic flight and spin of his ball, that he is definitely on the right track, said Reed, the reigning Masters champion. “The scary thing is, everyone knows Tiger as being such a good putter,” Reed said. “And he hasn’t really shown that this week, and he’s still shooting the numbers he has.”

Playing the Muirfield Village Golf Club layout where he has posted five of his 79 PGA Tour victories, Woods recorded his second consecutive sub-70 score on Saturday. He chased his five-under-par 67 on Friday with a 68 on Saturday for a 54-hole total of nine under. Woods, who leads the field in strokes gained tee to green, is five behind the front-running Bryson DeChambeau, who is 24.