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Sports

Goggin races into the lead in Panama

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Panama City, Panama – Matthew Goggin carded a 4-under 66 on Saturday to jump into the top spot after three rounds at the Panama Claro Championship.

The 2011 Panama Claro winner vaulted 11 spots in the standings to sit two strokes ahead of Bobby Gates, Kevin Foley and Roland Thatcher at 7-under-par 203.

"There are just courses that you like to play," said Goggin. "They may not necessarily be the finest golf courses around the world, but for whatever reason it agrees with me so far."

Gates had the low round of the group with a 2-under 68, while Thatcher ended with a third-round score of 69 and Foley shot a 70 to share second place at 5- under par at Club de Golf de Panama.

Brendan Todd (69) sits alone in fifth at minus-4 and former PGA Tour player Len Mattiace (72) is among five players tied for sixth place at 3-under.

Second-round leader and Web.com Tour rookie Dae-Hyun Kim stumbled to a 5-over- par 75 to fall into a four-way tie for 11th at minus-2.

Goggin cruised through his opening nine with one birdie and eight pars before making a push around the turn, reeling off four straight birdies from the 11th to move to minus-8.

He then countered that with consecutive bogeys at the 15th and 16th, but got a stroke back with a birdie at the 18th to head into the clubhouse with the lead.

"You can get a bit confused and the first couple of days I wasn't seeing the line that great and I feel like I got locked in there," Goggin said. "Today, you hit a really nice putt and you start to feel really good about it. I just got comfortable with the putter."

Kim opened the day with a 2-stroke lead and quickly added to his advantage by starting his round with a birdie at the first, but he did not record another birdie as he started to unravel.

His downfall started with back-to-back double bogeys at the fifth and sixth before another bogey at the ninth dropped him to 4-over for the day.

He seemed to gather himself with four straight pars, but then bogeyed the 15th to complete his descent.

NOTES: The field includes two former major winners, Rich Beem and Todd Hamilton. Hamilton is tied for 18th with an even-par 210, while Beem is tied for 31st at 1-over 211 ... Goggin is seeking his fifth career victory on the Web.com Tour ... Goggin never had a lead through the first 54 holes during his 2011 victory at this event ... Kim is making his first tour start.