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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (AP) -Paul Goydos seized the lead Saturday at The Players Championship, sinking a 10-foot birdie on the island-green 17th and escaping on the closing hole for a 2-under 70 that gave him a one-stroke advantage over Kenny Perry.
He was at 7-under 209, the highest score to lead the Players since 1999.
Perry saved par with a wedge on the 18th hole for a 72 that put him at 210 and in the final group Sunday. Sergio Garcia hit the ball as well as anyone for the second straight day, and got nothing in return.
Garcia was tied for the lead standing on the 17th tee, but he three-putted from just outside 10 feet, then hit into the rough on the 18th and closed with another bogey for a 73, leaving him three shots behind.
Through three rounds, Goydos has taken 78 putts, 18 fewer than Garcia.
"I'm a little bit disappointed because I feel like the last two days, I show the highest score I could shoot," Garcia said. "And I still have a chance. With everything that has happened, I'm still there."
The numbers are shrinking, with only 13 players remaining under par, just three of those with a victory in one of golf's major tournaments.
Phil Mickelson, trying to become the first repeat champion in the 35-year history of this tournament, was making a move up the leaderboard until he knocked his tee shot into the water on the 14th and took double bogey. He still wound up with a 71 and was in the group at 2-under 214, five shots behind.
"I'm pretty sure Mickelson is not going, 'Well, I'm playing for second,"' Goydos said.
Also five shots behind was 50-year-old Bernhard Langer, whose two victories this year have come on the 50-and-over U.S. Champions Tour. A day after knocking in a 60-foot birdie on the island green, Langer three-putted for bogey and finished with a 75.
The group at 1-under 215 included former British Open champion Tom Lehman (69) and Boo Weekley.
Goydos has played in 30 tournaments since winning the Sony Open last year in Hawaii with no result better than a tie for 25th, and that was last week at the Wachovia Championship.
"I'm not proud of that fact, but it's not through lack of effort," he said. "I think I'm a better player than I've ever been. That said, so is everybody else who plays out here, which is the problem."
A victory Sunday would be worth $1.71 million (?1.11 million), more than Goydos has made in any single season on the U.S. PGA Tour. That didn't faze the 43-year-old Goydos, either.
"When I won in Hawaii, the same thing happened," he said. "I've done it before."
Perry, 47, made the only birdie among 74 players on the 14th hole and had 14 pars, perhaps the most meaningful one on the 18th. After driving into the rough and laying up short, he hit sand wedge to 10 feet and made the putt to get into the last group.
"There's no other game plan - survival," Perry said.
