By DOUG FERGUSON, AP
May 11, 2008
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - 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 yesterday 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.
Perry saved par with a nifty wedge on the 18th hole for a 72 that put him at 210 and in the final group today.
Only 13 players remain under par, just three of those with a major to their credit.
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.
Even Goydos would concede that.
"I'm pretty sure Mickelson is not going, 'Well, I'm playing for second,' " he said.
Also five shots behind was 50-year-old Bernhard Langer, whose two victories this year have come on the Champions Tour.
