Unlikely Goydos showing way at TPC
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. - For nearly 10 years he has been trying to apply polish to a stardom that has always been within reach, but never in Sergio Garcia's grasp.
Yesterday, even 10 feet was not close enough, for that is the distance from which Garcia three-putted for bogey at the ticklish par-3, island-green 17th at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, a hiccup that took a lot of steam out of his pursuit of The Players Championship.
Tied for the lead with playing competitor Paul Goydos, Garcia stood on one of golf's most breathtaking stages and was in position to show off a new and improved putting stroke that he has trumpeted all week. But with a painful sequence of strokes that reminded many of the drawbacks to his perplexing career, the Spaniard jerked his first putt wide left, then missed the 4-foot comebacker.
Stunning as that was, the aftermath was even more so, because when Goydos followed by making his 10-foot curler for birdie, the 43-year-old had the first 54-hole lead in his 392d PGA Tour event.
"I guess I was due," he said, laughing, though the go-ahead putt was serious business.
"I couldn't have hit a better putt," said Goydos, who shot 2-under-par 70 to settle in at 7-under 209, one in front of Kenny Perry (72) on a day when firm and fast conditions got firmer and faster and caused havoc up and down the leaderboard.
Numerous were the collapses by players young (Anthony Kim) and old (Fred Couples). Having stumbled in his attempts to return to the winner's circle for the first time since 2005, Garcia followed that snafu at the 17th with a wild drive right at the par-4 18th and closed with a bogey in a round of 73 -212 that dropped him three off the lead.
"You have to realize the course is playing tough. It's not easy to make a lot of putts," said Garcia, who obviously wasn't watching his playing competitor. That's because on a day when he would require just 26 putts, Goydos one-putted 11 greens and lipped out a birdie try at the 18th. That effort was set up by an escape after a loose drive right, Goydos ripping from 202 yards a 3-iron out of rough, over a tree, and onto a green that is guarded on the left by water.
Tiger Woods pulls off such stuff, but Goydos? He of the 16-year PGA Tour career that has netted just two wins and has never had him ranked better than 61st on the money list? Indeed, he did it, and Perry, for one, wasn't stunned at the way Goydos finished, nor that he's in the lead.
"You've got to watch those type of players. Grinders know how to win," said Perry.
"They know how to play and hang in there."
His view blocked by trees after his skillful 3-iron, Goydos finally saw his ball perhaps 15 feet from the hole, "I thought, 'Oh, man.' " Told that perhaps the thousands of spectators and NBC audience had a similar reaction to this Goydos guy in the lead, the onetime substitute teacher smiled. He's got a self-deprecating style that affords him a firm grip on perspective, and Goydos concedes why the shock value may be high.
"I'm a better player than I've ever been," he said. Then he paused and added, "That being said, so is everyone else out here, which is the problem."
For sure, he knows the problems will be in front of him in today's final round, because not only is Perry, with nine wins, a proven commodity, Garcia has easily been the best ball-striker through 54 holes, and the three-way logjam five shots back consists of the esteemed Phil Mickelson (71), along with Jeff Quinney (70) and Bernhard Langer. At 50, Langer had started the day tied with Goydos and Garcia, a shot behind Perry, but the German came home in 39 and shot 75.
It was, however, not an unfamiliar sight, because so, too, did others tumble.
Kim, most dramatically. One week removed from his first PGA Tour win, the 22-year-old birdied the par-4 10th to get to 5 under and one off the lead. But he proceeded to bogey four straight holes, then he closed triple bogey, double bogey to shoot 79 -219 and crash into a share of 34th.
Couples, the 48-year-old, two-time winner here, was next. He began the day just four off the lead, but he went out in 41 and even the day's only birdie at the par-4 18th didn't salvage the round. He shot 77 and is also tied for 34th.
Goydos, meanwhile, had birdies at the third and fourth, then went on a bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie run starting at the par-4 seventh. He was 7 under and in the lead, but when he bogeyed the par-4 14th and Garcia two holes later two-putted for birdie at the par-5 16th, they were both 6 under, as was Perry, thanks to the only birdie of the day at the demanding 462-yard 14th.
"A magical birdie," said Perry, but he couldn't make another one, not even at the easy par-5 16th, and not at the 17th, where moments before him Goydos had worked his putting magic and Garcia had resorted to his putting tragic.
"He's not afraid of anything," said Perry of Goydos, assessing a 54-hole picture that is somewhat stunning. After all, a self-confessed journeyman is leading a $9.5 million tournament that has so many more-polished names.
The man in front merely nodded his head and smiled.
"The futures market," he said. "You decide who you want to take."
