On a day when fellow European Bernhard Langer was falling five strokes behind, Garcia was still tied for the lead after a birdie at the par-five 16th, and momentum seemed to be on his side when he hit a lovely shot to 10 feet at the par-three 17th at the Sawgrass TPC.

But his first putt trickled four feet beyond the hole and he missed the comeback attempt.

That was bad enough, but the Spaniard then compounded his problems by dropping another shot at the par-four 18th after pushing his drive into the rough and having to lay up with his second shot.

"I'm a little bit disappointed because I feel the last two days I shot pretty much the bestI could," said Garcia, whose long game has been clearly the best of the field.

"I feel like I'm putting well. It's not easy to make a lot of putts, (although) I went a little brain dead with my first putt on 17 and just jammed it by.

"But with everything that happened, I'm still there with a good chance."

Goydos, who has not achieved anything of note since winning the Sony Open in Hawaii in January last year and has dropped to 159th in the world rankings, birdied the 17th to take the sole lead.

He could have had another birdie at the last, but lipped out a 15-footer and settled for a round of 70.

The American veteran, who posted a seven-under 209 total, was asked whether he had ever held the 54-hole lead before: "No, but I've only been on tour for 16 years," he quipped.

Goydos headed fellow American Kenny Perry (72) by one stroke, with Garcia alone in third place on four under.

Langer, who struggled on the back nine, shot a 75 to slip back to two under with Americans Phil Mickelson and Jeff Quinney.

Garcia was not the only European to strike late trouble. Ian Poulter was hanging doggedly within striking distance of the lead until he struck major trouble at the final hole.

Buckinghamshire's Poulter pulled his drive into the lake and ran up a triple bogey, all but surrendering his victory chances in just one hole.

"It was a poor tee shot," Poulter said after plunging seven shots off the pace. "I'm burning right now but what can you do? I'm not going to hang myself because of a bad tee shot on 18."

Meanwhile, Luke Donald, the only British player other than Poulter to make the cut, was cruising along nicely until he made a weak bogey at the par-four 12th.

He promptly dropped three more shots over the difficult closing stretch to shoot a disappointing two-over-par 74.

"It's a shame, because I played quite nicely the first 11 holes," the Englishman said after posting a five-over 221 total.

"I didn't miss a shot the first 11 holes and then I chunked one into the bunker on 12. I also four-putted 15 from the fringe and didn't commit to my shot on 17 and hit it in the water."

Donald, a member of the past two victorious European Ryder Cup teams, is no certainty to make this year's side. He began working on some swing changes late last year and admits they have not yet quite gelled.

"It's getting closer," he said. "I'm starting to control the ball more. Hopefully it's going to be better and more consistent throughout."

Donald has added a couple of European Tour events to his schedule next month. He will play the International Open in Germany, and the following week's French Open.

Andrew Both, PA Sport, Sawgrass

ALL THE THIRD ROUND SCORES
(USA unless stated, par 72):

209 Paul Goydos 68 71 70

210 Kenny Perry 68 70 72

212 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 66 73 73

214 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 72 67 75, Phil Mickelson 70 73 71, Jeff Quinney 71 73 70

215 J.B. Holmes 72 72 71, Tim Petrovic 73 73 69, Boo Weekley 70 71 74, Tom Lehman 73 73 69, Greg Kraft 75 72 68, Briny Baird 71 71 73, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 72 72 71

216 Jerry Kelly 74 72 70, Charlie Wi (Kor) 74 73 69, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 76 70 70, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 74 73, Stephen Ames (Can) 74 68 74, Jesper Parnevik (Swe) 72 74 70

217 Adam Scott (Aus) 75 71 71, Soren Hansen (Den) 71 73 73, Davis Love III 73 74 70, Ben Curtis 74 72 71, Ben Crane 70 72 75, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 72 72 73, J J Henry 71 73 73, Jim Furyk 74 72 71, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 71 74

218 Pat Perez 72 74 72, Brett Quigley 70 76 72, Jose Coceres (Arg) 72 75 71, Rocco Mediate 74 72 72, Nicholas Thompson 70 77 71

219 Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 73 71 75, John Merrick 70 72 77, Stewart Cink 71 75 73, Fred Couples 70 72 77, Mark Wilson 76 71 72, Anthony Kim 70 70 79, Jonathan Byrd 76 71 72, Ryan Moore 72 74 73, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 73 71 75

220 Kevin Stadler 70 72 78, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 74 76, Woody Austin 71 76 73, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 74 71 75

221 Dean Wilson 74 72 75, Nick Watney 76 71 74, Brian Gay 72 74 75, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 73 71 77, Todd Hamilton 69 77 75, Luke Donald (Eng) 75 72 74

222 Chris DiMarco 71 73 78, Billy Mayfair 72 73 77, Cliff Kresge 74 71 77, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 73 74 75, Steve Elkington (Aus) 69 76 77, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 71 74 77, Chad Campbell 73 72 77, Robert Allenby (Aus) 74 71 77, Mike Weir (Can) 71 76 75, D.J. Trahan 70 77 75

223 Kevin Na (Kor) 72 75 76, Bart Bryant 73 71 79, David Toms 77 70 76, Ken Duke 72 75 76, Heath Slocum 69 76 78, Johnson Wagner 72 74 77, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 77 70 76

224 Camilo Villegas (Col) 74 73 77

225 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 70 75 80

226 Troy Matteson 70 76 80, Jason Bohn 74 73 79

227 Tommy Armour III 71 76 80