JERSEY CITY, N.J. (AP) — Paul Goydos figured Liberty National at least would look good on television, with the Statue of Liberty and so many other New York landmarks serving as a spectacular backdrop at The Barclays.

Inside the ropes is starting to look pretty good to him, too.

Goydos put together three straight birdies early in the third round Saturday to build a lead that stood up until Steve Marino ran off three straight late on the cloudy afternoon to catch him for the lead. Both shot 3-under 68 and were at 9-under 204.

As for those beauty shots?

“I haven’t been watching,” Goydos said. “Thankfully, I’ve been playing well and I’ve been on TV.”

That might not make him the star attraction Sunday.

Goydos has only two victories in his 17 years on the PGA Tour. Marino made his debut as a PGA Tour rookie in 2007 at the last tournament Goydos won (Sony Open) and is still looking for his first victory.

The focus shifted behind them on a day of light rain that didn’t last long. Suddenly lurking is Tiger Woods, who suggested the players used “ladies’ tees” on Saturday even though he remained confounded by the putting surfaces. Woods was capable of making enough putts for a 67 that put him within five shots of the leaders.

Asked if he would be looking over his shoulder, the droll Goydos kept it all in perspective, as always.

“First of all, he’s going to be in front of me, not behind me,” he said. “So I’ll be looking straight ahead.”

The opening event of the PGA Tour Playoffs for the FedEx Cup has several possibilities:

Of the top six players on the leaderboard, only Steve Stricker, who is three shots behind, has won this year. Stricker won the inaugural playoff event two years ago at The Barclays. He kept bogeys off his card, yet only made birdies on the par 5s for his 68.

Marino had two chances to win this year, losing a playoff at the Colonial and sharing the 36-hole lead with Tom Watson at the British Open. He might find out how that experience will help him at Liberty National.

“I felt like I was ready to win back then, too,” Marino said. “It just didn’t turn out that way. I just feel like I’m playing real well right now, and I’m going to do the best I can. I think if I play well, I’ll have a good chance to win the golf tournament.”

Two shots out of the lead were Fredrik Jacobson (72), the Swede with moving parts in his swing, who is winless in his six years on the PGA Tour; and 24-year-old Webb Simpson, who overcame a triple bogey to shoot 72 and give himself a chance to become the first rookie to win on tour this year.

And then there was Woods, surprised to see the tees moved so far forward that it was 355 yards shorter than the card.

“They are playing the ladies’ tees most of the day,” Woods said.

He was concerned because he didn’t take advantage of the lack of length, particularly on the par-5 13th, with tees moved up 54 yards to make it play only 509 yards. Woods had to hit 3-wood to avoid going into a lake that he couldn’t reach before. Trying to hit a soft 3-iron from a downhill lie, he caught it fat and went into the water.

Woods followed with a 5-iron to 7 feet for a remarkable save, and he holed a 12-foot par putt on the final hole that brightened his day.

“If the guys get going coming in, they can kind of run away with it. “But the par on 18 at least kept me within reach – so far.”

He’s still there – barely.

Woods won Bay Hill with a five-shot rally Sunday, matching his PGA Tour best for comebacks. He won the Memorial from four shots behind. Working in his favor is that only three players ahead of him – Goydos, Stricker and Heath Slocum – have won on tour.

McNulty, Roberts tied at 11 under at Boeing

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — Mark McNulty went to the range after the first round of the Boeing Classic to try to figure out how a sizzling first nine holes got away from him.

McNulty didn’t make the same mistake in Saturday’s second round. McNulty shot a 7-under 65 and shares the lead heading to Sunday’s final round.

Loren Roberts had four birdies in his final six holes to match McNulty’s 65 and finish at 11 under. The duo holds a two-shot lead over Bernhard Langer and first-round leader Mark O’Meara.

McNulty was 4 under on his first nine holes Saturday, then made another four birdies on the back nine. He birdied Nos. 14 and 15, then curled in a long birdie putt on the 16th to share the lowest round of the tournament.

A few minutes later, Roberts matched McNulty’s number with his birdie on 18.

McNulty has four top-10 finishes this year, including a victory at the Principal Charity Classic and a runner-up finish at the Senior British Open.

Thanks to his touch around the green, Roberts scrambled to a bogey-free round of 66. The steady putter made three consecutive birdies on 7, 8 and 9, then did the same thing on the back nine with consecutive birdies at 14, 15 and 16 before his birdie at 18.

Roberts won the Senior British Open last month, beating McNulty in a playoff.

Langer had a 6-under 66. He saved par on the 12th with a 15-foot putt, then got up and down from a greenside pot bunker on the 14th.

He narrowly avoiding hitting the ball into the hazard on the par-5 15th, as his second shot caught a tree limb and fell in a bunker instead. Langer ended up making bogey on 15, but rebounded with birdies on Nos. 16 and 17.

O’Meara led by two shots after the first round, but missed a number of short birdie putts throughout his second round. O’Meara suddenly found his putting stroke in the closing holes with birdies at 14, 15 and 16. He stumbled with a bogey at 17 when his tee shot on the par-3 hole missed the green, but rallied with a birdie at 18.

Craig Stadler came back from a jumbled pack to surge into contention. Dusting off a putter that was sitting in his closet for about five years, Stadler made six birdies for the second straight day. The difference Saturday was that Stadler didn’t throw in the two double bogeys that ruined his first round.

Stadler heads to Sunday three shots back.

17-year-old An reaches US Amateur finals

TULSA, Okla. — With each passing day, Byeong-Hun An is making his resume look more impressive.

After playing 125 holes of golf in the past six days, the 17-year-old South Korean needs only one more win to add a line as the youngest champion in the history of the U.S. Amateur.

“Age doesn’t matter,” An said Saturday after beating Fresno State sophomore Bhavik Patel 3 and 2 in the semifinals. “If you look at the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods is around his 30s. Rory McIlroy is like 20 or 21. Kenny Perry is around his 40s, I think. I don’t think it matters.”

An, the son of Olympic medal winners in table tennis, said the only difference is that young players can make a splash with big wins and make people think, “He has a title, he’s a good player, he’s so young.”

Danny Lee was 18 years, one month when he won last year’s U.S. Amateur to break Tiger Woods’ record as the youngest champion by just under seven months. An, who will turn 18 on Sept. 17, could break Lee’s mark by a month and a half.

“It’s a big title for me,” An said. “People will remember – until someone breaks it next.”

While he hasn’t yet become the event’s 109th winner, he likely has already earned something special: U.S. Amateur finalists have traditionally earned invitations to play in the Masters the following year.

An has surprised even himself with the roll he’s on this week at Southern Hills Country Club, the site of the 2007 PGA Championship. In his second time qualifying for the U.S. Amateur, he made the match play portion for the first time and has reeled off five straight victories to reach Sunday’s 36-hole final against fourth-seeded Ben Martin of Clemson.

An said he has won only one tournament since he started playing at age 6 – the Nike Golf Junior at Marshallia Ranch in California back in 2006.

“I’ve got a lot of second-place and third-place trophies, but I don’t have a lot of first-place trophies,” said An, a senior at Bradenton (Fla.) Preparatory Academy who has verbally committed to play at California next year.

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