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. 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, which is 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 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,' " said Goydos, who has two career PGA Tour victories, including the 2007 Sony Open in Hawai'i.

Hawai'i's Dean Wilson, a Castle High alum, struggled to a 75 and is tied for 47th place at 221.

LPGA TOUR

SORENSTAM SHOOTS THREE AHEAD IN MICHELOB ULTRA

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Annika Sorenstam knows there was speculation that her best days as a golfer were behind her, and that an injury-plagued 2007 was the beginning of the end.

That all just makes working her way back to the top more satisfying.

"I never wondered, but I know other people would wonder, 'Is she ever going to get back?' " Sorenstam said yesterday after her 2-under 69 showed that she's getting there quickly. "I know what I'm capable of."

Rarely spectacular but remarkable for her consistency, Sorenstam shot her third consecutive nearly mistake-free round, and gave No. 1 Lorena Ochoa and Jeong Jang up-close evidence that she's getting ever closer to finding the maddeningly steady game that made her the top female player in the world for so long, and it's coming sooner rather than later.

"It's been over a year and I'm finally starting to feel good again," said Sorenstam, who opened with rounds of 64 and 68 and was 14 under 199.

Hitting fairways and greens consistently and scrambling when necessary with radar-like wedge play, Sorenstam stretched her bogey-free string to 53 holes before hooking a drive into the water on No. 18. Even then, she drove again, hit a 6-iron from 162 yards to 8 feet and made the putt, the bogey leaving her with a three-shot lead over Jang.

"I saved everything today," Sorenstam said. "Even the last hole."

Ochoa lost her putting stroke and fell back quickly. Her string of four bogeys in five holes ended just before Sorenstam made back-to-back long putts, both for birdie, to open an eight-shot lead over the woman who has taken her place at the top of the sport.

Ochoa started well, holing a long birdie putt on the first hole, and was 2 under through seven holes, but 5 over after that, finishing with a 74 to drop into a tie for 10th.

"I just didn't have a good rhythm today, didn't have good speed," she said. "I'm not even going to think about it or try to work on it. I'm just going to go home and relax and get ready for tomorrow."

Jang, who played in the final group with Sorenstam and Ochoa, shook off an aching wrist and a bogey on the first hole for a 69. The final threesome today also will include Christina Kim, who was four back after a 66.

Maria Hjorth is fourth, six shots back, after a 66, and five players are tied for fifth, another shot off the pace.

EUROPEAN PGA

OTTO RIDES 9-UNDER 63 INTO ITALIAN OPEN LEAD

MILAN, Italy — Hennie Otto shot a 9-under 63 yesterday to take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the Italian Open.

The South African had 11 birdies and two bogeys in the third round at Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club. He is at 22-under 194.

"I played very well today, very well indeed and I am very pleased," Otto said. "I put the ball close to the pins with my irons today and gave myself a lot of chances."

Robert Karlsson, who shot a course-record 61 Friday, had a 69 and was tied for second place with Christian Nilsson and Alvaro Velasco, who both shot 64s.