Gary Woodland holds a seven-point lead at the Reno-Tahoe Open, a tournament which uses the Modified Stableford scoring system.

Six birdies and an eagle in Saturday's third round helped him to a total of 37 points at Montreux Golf Club, with eight points awarded for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie, zero for a par, minus-one for a bogey and minus-three for a double-bogey or worse.

Brendan Steele moved into second place with 30 points thanks to a late charge. He played the last six holes in 7-under, netting a handy 17 points in the process.

Woodland reckons his seven-point cushion amounts to little more than a two-shot lead.

"It's tough to tell in this format," he said.

"Obviously, if you make birdies, you can move up quickly. Somebody can hole out on a par-5 and all the sudden a seven-point lead vanishes."

That happened to Steele on the front nine, where he had two bogeys with a lone birdie for a net zero points before his late rally.

"Didn't have any points going into No. 10 and I was feeling like I was getting run over," he said. "All of a sudden, things changed and the ball started going in the hole.

"I think I was in 50th place going into the back nine, so you can obviously move up pretty quick."

The 17 points Steele tallied on the back nine alone equal the best one-day record in the format at Reno.

"It doesn't happen that often. You really have to enjoy it when it does," he said. "I mean, I didn't know what the score even was, but as far as the score goes, it's probably the best I've ever had."

David Mathis heads into Sunday's round in third place with 29 points, followed by second-round leader Andres Romero at 27, Charlie Wi at 25, Dickey Pride 24 and Rory Sabbatini 23. Stuart Appleby was in a group two more points back at 21.

Golf 365