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Goydos takes first big lead

Phil Mickelson hits out from under trees during the third round of The Players Championship.Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press The Spokesman-Review
Phil Mickelson hits out from under trees during the third round of The Players Championship.Associated Press (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)

Paul Goydos doesn’t have a Q-rating, an endorsement deal or a top-30 finish in the last 16 months. What he does have for the first time in his career is a 54-hole lead – in The Players Championship, no less.

Seemingly immune to the mounting pressure and a course getting tougher by the day, Goydos seized the lead Saturday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., with a 10-foot birdie on the island-green 17th and a great escape on the closing hole for a 2-under 70 and a one-shot lead over Kenny Perry.

As well as he played, his self-deprecating humor was even better.

Asked if he had ever had a 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour, Goydos shook his head.

“But I’ve only been on tour for 16 years,” he said.

He was at 7-under 209, the highest score to lead at TPC Sawgrass since 1999.

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 and very much in the game.

LPGA

Annika Sorenstam shot her third consecutive nearly mistake-free round at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Va., and her 2-under 69 signaled that she may be ready to give Lorena Ochoa a run for No. 1 again.

Sorenstam stretched her bogey-free string to 53 holes before hooking her drive into the water on No. 18. Even then, she drove again, hit a 6-iron within 8 feet and made the putt, the bogey leaving her with a three-shot lead over Jeong Jang.