Garcia in upbeat mood despite another faltering finish

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By Mark Lamport-Stokes

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - Spaniard Sergio Garcia shrugged off the disappointment of a stumbling finish for the second day in a row at the Players Championship on Saturday.

Despite striking the ball from tee to green as well as anyone in the 74-man field, Garcia bogeyed four of the last six holes to card a one-over-par 73 in the third round.

The previous day, the 28-year-old had surrendered a one-stroke lead by double-bogeying the treacherous 17th but he remained upbeat about his title hopes going into Sunday's final round.

"With everything that happened, I'm still there," Garcia told reporters after ending a gruelling day of survival on sun-baked greens three shots behind pace-setting American Paul Goydos.

"I still have a good chance and I'm looking forward to tomorrow coming out and playing well again. We'll see if we can win this championship."

Garcia, seeking his seventh PGA Tour title, duelled for the lead with playing partner Goydos for much of the third round but was ultimately let down by his putter.

While Goydos needed only 26 putts on the slick greens at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass, Garcia totalled 34.

SIMILAR DAY

"It was a very similar day to yesterday," the Spaniard said after posting a four-under total of 212. "I hit the ball nicely again and I felt like I putted nicely, unfortunately the putts just didn't want to drop.

"But the course was harder. The greens were firmer and quicker than yesterday so that made it a little bit tougher."

The island green at the par-three 17th again posed a problem for Garcia. Although he struck a superb tee shot there to 10 feet, he three-putted for bogey while Goydos calmly rolled in a nine-footer for birdie.

"I went a little brain-dead on 17 with my first putt," Garcia said. "I just didn't want to hit a soft putt and I killed it, probably hit it about four feet by.

"And then the second one didn't feel like a bad putt, it just really snapped at me. It was hitting the right edge and instead of lipping in it kind of just caught the edge and missed."

Garcia also bogeyed the par-four last after pushing his tee shot into the right rough.

"I hope I move forward," he said. "I'm not waiting for the field to come back. That's my goal."

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