Goydos, Garcia find common ground on leaderboard
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- If we could only read minds.
It sure would be fun to get inside the head of Sergio Garcia and find out what he really thinks about Paul Goydos, the player he spent Saturday with at the TPC Sawgrass.
Garcia has long been destined for greatness in golf, a prodigy who contended in a major championship as a teenager and at 28 has for years been considered among the best players in the world.
Goydos, 43, began his pro career by supplementing his income as a substitute teacher. He's won twice on the PGA Tour, 11 years apart. He has never finished among the top 10 in a major championship or the Players. And he is 15 years older than Garcia.
No, these two are not apt to hang out at the 19th hole, and you have to believe Garcia takes a peek at Goydos' resume and game and figures he could beat him blindfolded during the third round of The Players Championship.
"I'm sure he was looking at me and just kind of wanting to throw up," Goydos said. "I played with Sergio on Saturday and Sunday at Honda, and it was pretty much the same thing there. He is an impressive golfer. On a given day . .. I beat him today.
"The futures market . . . you decide who you want to take."
Garcia would never say such a thing, of course, and he knows well the mantra of any given day on a golf course. There are numerous examples of the underdog overtaking the top dog in golf, but this nonetheless is a huge mismatch in every way imaginable.
And yet, here is Goydos, leading the PGA Tour's flagship event by a stroke over Kenny Perry and by three over Garcia, who once again was left to mutter about putts that did not go in, another impressive ball-striking round wasted. He hit 14 greens in regulation but needed a whopping 34 putts.
Goydos shot 2-under-par 70 to take the third-round lead at the tournament. He has never been better than 40th through 54 holes. Garcia, who opened the tournament with a 66, shot a second straight 73 to finish three strokes back, in third place.
The difference came on the last two holes, where Goydos went birdie-par while Garcia went bogey-bogey. Garcia's bogey at the par-3 17th was particularly galling, as he hit a beautiful approach to 10 feet -- then missed badly, leaving himself a 3-footer that he also missed.
Goydos managed to roll in his birdie putt at 17, then recovered from a poor drive to make par at 18.
"Obviously, he's a very straight hitter of the ball," Garcia said. "He doesn't hit it far, but he controls his ball flight nicely. Around the greens he's been very good this week. I guess that's a good mix when you come to a tough course like this one."
Garcia did all he could to summon the nice comments. Goydos typically takes a self-deprecating view. After going 246 tournaments between winning the Bay Hill Invitational in 1996 and the Sony Open in 2007, he quipped: "I've set some goals and one was to win every decade. So far, I've accomplished that."
As for the paucity of victories, Goydos said: "Why haven't I won [more]. You mean beyond talent?"
When asked by NBC's Bob Costas after the round if he had ever led after 54 holes, Goydos deadpanned: "No, but I've only been out here for 16 years."
No wonder he is cynically nicknamed "Sunshine."
"I think I'm a better player than I've ever been," Goydos said. "That said, so is everybody else who plays out here . . . which is the problem."
Certainly Goydos has some ability to be able to hang on the PGA Tour since 1993. But he has never finished higher than 44th on the money list. He's never played in a British Open. Since winning the Sony, he's played in 30 PGA Tour events, and his best finish was a 25th last week at the Wachovia Championship.
He has just five top-three finishes in his career and has missed the cut in his past six major championships dating to 1999. In 28 previous rounds at the Players before this week, Goydos had broken par just three times, never shot in the 60s; now he has three straight sub-par scores.
In 2006, Goydos needed a high finish in the last tournament of the year just to keep his playing card for 2007. And then he won his first start at the Sony Open. It was his only top 25 finish of the year. The $1.7-million winner's check at the Players would be more money than Goydos has made in any single year on tour.
So, yeah, you do a double take when you see his name atop the leaderboard. Asked if he was surprised that Goydos was leading, Phil Mickelson -- who is five strokes back -- replied: "I think Paul is one of the nicest guys we have on tour, and he's a very solid player."
That kind of says it, huh?
Goydos is ranked 169th in the world, which would make him among the most unlikeliest of Players winners, putting him alongside 2002 champion Craig Perks, who did not win before or after his victory here.
But it should also be noted that Goydos has some other priorities. He is a single parent, gaining custody of two teenage daughters, Chelsea and Courtney, four years ago after a divorce. In 2004, he played in just two tournaments while nursing injuries but also doing his best to stabilize the lives of his daughters at their Southern California home.
He played just 15 tournaments in 2005, again trying to spend as much time at home as possible, making the best of a tough situation, often relying on friends and family members to help out.
Now he is in a unique position, one he's never been in, on one of golf's biggest stages, with a couple of world-class players trying to catch him.
"This is why we play," said Goydos, perhaps finding some common ground between him and Garcia.
Bob Harig covers golf for ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.
