DULUTH, Ga. (AP) — Paul Goydos shot a bogey-free 3-under 69 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Billy Andrade into the final round of the PGA Tour Champions’ Mitsubishi Electric Classic.
The 56-year-old Goydos had an 8-under 136 total at TPC Sugarloaf. He has five senior victories after winning twice on the PGA Tour.
“This course isn’t playing that easy,” Goydos said. “Pars aren’t bad scores, quite frankly. I had a few decent looks. But again, you have to hit quality shots to have birdie puts. Sometimes golf’s not necessarily where your good shots go, it’s where your poor shots go. Today all my poor shots got in the middle of the green and allowed me to two-putt and make pars.”
Goydos is 8 under on the back nine.
“I putted better on the back nine,” Goydos said. “It’s just happenstance more than anything else, I would say. I’ve taken advantage of the holes that are more scorable.”
Andrade eagled the par-5 18th in a 68.
“It’s not playing easy,” Andrade said. “I think it’s probably the toughest it’s played in all the years that we’ve played here. By looking at the leaderboard, you can tell that, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. ”
First-round leader Stephen Ames followed his opening 66 with a 72 to drop into a tie for third at 6 under with 2019 winner Scott McCarron (68), 2014 champion Miguel Angel Jimenez (68), Dicky Pride (67) and Kirk Triplett (68). McCarron also won two PGA Tour events at TPC Sugarloaf.
Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz bogeyed the final three holes for a 77. He opened with an 84 and was 76th among the 78 finishes at 17 over.
