Garcia targets grandstand finish at Torrey

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Sergio Garcia set his sights on a strong finish at the U.S. Open after climbing up the leaderboard with a one-under-par 70 in Saturday's third round.

Seven strokes off the pace at the start of an overcast day at Torrey Pines, the 28-year-old Spaniard ended it six behind Tiger Woods after posting a three-over total of 216.

While not quite matching his form of the previous round, Garcia was delighted with the way he had rebounded from an opening 76.

"When you're comfortable with your game, when you have confidence in your game, you know you can come back," the world number seven told reporters after registering three birdies and two bogeys.

"Even though I didn't make a lot of putts, I didn't miss a lot of the short ones you can miss in these conditions and that's nice. I felt like I played solid.

"Unfortunately I just had a bad start Thursday," added the Spaniard, whose best U.S. Open finish was a tie for third at Pinehurst in 2005.

"But I'm slowly coming back. I've just got to keep playing well tomorrow, roll some good putts in and see what happens."

Garcia, who won the biggest title of his career at last month's Players Championship, birdied two of the last five holes on a tricky day for scoring to haul himself back into contention.

"I would love to be a couple better, just to make sure that I was a little closer," he said after moving into a four-way tie for 11th place. "But every time you shoot under par here you shouldn't be too greedy, I guess.

"It's not easy. It's a U.S. Open. That's why it's a major."

Garcia came closest to winning a major when he lost to Irishman Padraig Harrington in a playoff for last year's British Open at Carnoustie.

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)