Garcia snatches East Lake lead from faltering Kim

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Fast-finishing Sergio Garcia overhauled a stumbling Anthony Kim to charge three strokes clear in the third round of the Tour Championship on Saturday.

Two behind the pacesetting Kim overnight, Spaniard Garcia birdied two of the last four holes for a three-under-par 67 on another muggy day at East Lake Golf Club.

That left Garcia at eight-under 202 and well positioned to clinch his eighth PGA Tour victory in the final event of the Tour's regular season.

Kim, who injured a spectator with an errant drive at the ninth, struggled off the tee all day on his way to a 72 and a share of second place with American world number two Phil Mickelson (69).

Colombian Camilo Villegas, winner of the BMW Championship three weeks ago, was a further two strokes back in fourth at three under after returning a 69.

"AK (Kim) wasn't on his 'A' game today," world number five Garcia told reporters of his playing partner. "He scrambled nicely but unfortunately he didn't have the best of finishes.

"I managed to make a couple of birdies here and there and played a solid round. Any time you shoot under par on this course you're not losing ground so I'm very pleased with that."

Garcia was hammered 5&4 by Kim in the top singles match at the Ryder Cup six days ago but said he never entertained thoughts of trying to gain revenge at East Lake.

"Not at all," the 28-year-old added. "Anthony is a friend of mine and we get along great. We're both trying to do the best we can out there. Whatever happens in one week is not going to change anything around us."

Kim, hunting his third PGA Tour victory of the year, made a promising start to the round with a birdie at the par-four third, rolling in a 22-footer to stretch his lead to three.

LEAD CUT

However, he bogeyed the par-three sixth after hitting his tee shot into water before his lead was cut to one when Garcia sank a nine-footer to birdie the seventh.

Kim was severely shaken after his wild drive at the par-five ninth struck spectator David Whitfield above the right eye.

Whitfield, watching the lead pairing with his wife, fell to the ground and was given medical treatment before being taken away on a stretcher.

"I'll give you the ball, the clubs, the bag, anything you want," a worried Kim said before signing a golf ball which he handed over to Whitfield's wife.

After hitting his second shot across the edge of a lake cutting into the middle of the fairway, Kim parred the hole while Garcia birdied after getting up and down from a greenside bunker to draw level at the top of the leaderboard.

Garcia briefly dropped back with a bogey at the par-four 13th, where he failed to reach the green in two, before taking control over the last four holes.

He struck a wedge approach to three feet at the par-five 15th to set up his third birdie of the day and rolled in a 15-footer at the 17th to stretch his lead to three.

Kim, who struggled for accuracy off the tee all day, slipped back with bogeys at the 14th and 16th.

"I'm speechless how bad I hit the driver," Kim said after hitting only four out of 14 fairways. "I was just trying to hit it in the right areas of the rough, I really was.

"I felt like I hung in there pretty tough and made some great up and downs, gave myself a chance going into Sunday. Tomorrow I'll be out here early and figuring my swing out, and I should be in good shape."

(Editing by Ken Ferris)