Records fall as Simpson keeps soaring at Players

Leader up by seven; Woods excels with 65

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Webb Simpson isn’t aware of the records he has tied or broken at The Players Championship. He saw that Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth each made a big charge before he teed off Saturday, and it didn’t rattle him.

“I think it helped me a little bit to continue to think about making birdies,” he said.

Simpson had a plan and didn’t back off until he holed an 18-foot par on the final hole for a 4-under-par 68.

He stretched his lead to a record seven shots, tied Greg Norman’s 54-hole score at The Players that had not been touched in 24 years and left himself one more round to capture golf’s richest prize.

Simpson started with an 8-foot birdie. He holed a 100-foot bunker shot for eagle.

And that island green on the par-3 17th that ruined his bid for the record score at the TPC Sawgrass the previous day? With a front pin in the bowl, he hit sand wedge and listened to thousands of fans surrounding the green cheer as the ball trickled down the slope to 3 feet for birdie.

It added to a 19-under 197, the score Norman had after three rounds in 1994 on a rain-softened course.

And Simpson, 32, has history on his side: No one ever has lost a seven-shot lead in the final round in PGA Tour history.

“All those things that have happened, I’d love to know them if I win tomorrow,” Simpson said. “But I’m trying not to dwell there. I’m trying to just look forward, do what I always do on a Saturday night of a golf tournament and get ready tomorrow morning.”

Danny Lee was leading the B-Flight with a bogey-free round of 70 but with birdies only on the two par 5s on the back nine. He will be in the final round.

Woods had his best round on the Stadium Course with a 65 despite playing the final six holes in 1 over. Spieth made two bogeys in his round of 65 as both charged up the leaderboard in the morning with big crowds and loud cheers.

They went from a tie for 68th to a tie for ninth. But they made up only three shots on Simpson and were 11 shots behind.

■ European PGA: At Sciacca, Sicily, Mike Lorenzo-Vera of France made eight birdies en route to an 8-under 63 for a 15-under 198 total and a two-stroke lead entering the final round of the Sicilian Open.

Countryman Julien Guerrier, who led overnight with Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark, shot 67 to slip two shots back along with Joakim Lagergren of Sweden, who shot 63. Bjerregaard (68) fell three back.

Lynne Sladky The Associated Press Webb Simpson hits from a sand trap toward the 18th green Saturday during the third round of The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.