Golf: Local lad Paulson leads at Sawgrass

Carl Paulson holds a slender one-shot lead in the Players' Championship after a spectacular Third Round at Sawgrass.

The local lad, from Orlando, carded a third consecutive 69 to top an unfamiliar-looking leaderboard, with Craig Perks a shot behind on eight under and Rocco Mediate and Jeff Sluman together on six under.

Paulson's consistency was the highlight of a day that saw some of the biggest names in the game suffer fluctuating fortunes as the tournament lived up to its billing as the 'fifth major'.

Nick Faldo failed to cash in on some amazing collapses that stunned the packed galleries, world number two Phil Mickelson five-putting his way out of contention and Craig Stadler dropping six shots on the last three holes - after holing-in-one at the 13th.

Faldo had rolled back the years with a hat-trick of birdies from the 10th, but saw his chances of claiming an overdue tournament win falter with three dropped shots on 14 and 15.

The six-time major winner the day six shots off the lead, but with an evident of experience ahead of him, will still be in the hunt when the final round gets underway.

World number one Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia finished alongside Faldo on three-under, Woods struggling to find his top form and returning a 70, Garcia chipping in for eagle at the 16th, but bogeying the last.

Faldo and Garcia were the only Europeans left with even an outside chance of the first prize of nearly £800,000. Jose Maria Olazabal was level par, Colin Montgomerie two over - and heckled

again - Bernhard Langer the same, Padraig Harrington three over and Thomas Bjorn five over.

World number three Ernie Els was even worse, however. The South African, having recovered from an opening 76 with a 69, covered the back nine in an horrendous 44 and finished with an 80.

Those who did not survive the cut - at two over - included Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke, Paul Lawrie and Paul McGinley, the Dubliner finishing double bogey-bogey to miss out by one when he returned at daybreak to complete his second round.