Hans Deryk / Reuters

Phil Mickelson shot a 3-under 69 to secure a spot in the final group for the last round of The Players Championship.

That seemed to set the stage for plenty of excitement at Sawgrass. With only a gentle breeze and several hole locations that allowed for birdies, it was a race to see who could get to the top of the leaderboard and stay there.

Sergio Garcia made a swift climb into contention with eight birdies in 16 holes, only to finish by pulling a 6-iron into the water for double bogey, and getting defensive when someone asked about the shot.

“I didn’t yank it, I just pulled it a little bit,” Garcia said. “It went 2 yards into the water. It didn’t go 30 yards in the water.”

Davis Love III wasted a good round with a double bogey-triple bogey finish. Tom Pernice chipped across the 18th green and into the water on the final hole.

And there is always a nail-biting moment with Mickelson.

He was on the practice range at 8 a.m. — more than six hours before his tee time — with swing coach Butch Harmon, and the lesson seemed to pay off as Mickelson kept the ball inside the ropes and his name where everyone could see it. Then came a wayward tee shot on the par-5 ninth that led to bogey, and a tee shot into the bunker behind trees on the 10th.

Instead of the safe shot, Mickelson went through a tiny gap in the trees and onto the front of the green, escaping with par.

“It was plenty big for a ball to fit through,” he said. “It was a tough enough shot where I felt like Bones (caddie Jim Mackay) would try to talk me out of it.”

O’Hair never dreamed of a birdie-birdie-birdie finish. After a three-putt bogey on the 15th, he only wanted to hit the next fairway. His approach came up just short of the green, setting up a simple pitch for birdie.

Then came the 17th, where O’Hair figured he would be another victim.

“I just thought it was a good, solid 9-iron,” O’Hair said. “I hit it exactly the way I wanted to, but as I hit it, the wind died. I was like, ’That’s in the water.’ It ended up being a great shot.”

Luke Donald (65) and Carl Petterson (70) were among those in the group at 5-under 211, while U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy was in the group five shots behind.

The most surprising contender might be Quinney.

He shot 83-80 last week at Wachovia and was in the middle of the pack going into the weekend at Sawgrass.

“This is not a course where you really want to come in struggling with your game, because Pete Dye is known for intimidating golf shots,” Quinney said. “Golf is just a crazy game.”