Sergio Garcia watches his tee shot on the fifth hole during the third round of the Tour Championship. Garcia fired a 67 on Saturday in Atlanta to take a three-stroke lead into today's final round.

Atlanta ? Sergio Garcia enjoyed an amazing turnaround Saturday against Anthony Kim in the Tour Championship, and it had nothing to do with the Ryder Cup.

Garcia shot 3-under 67 to go from a three-shot deficit on the front nine to a three-shot lead through 54 holes, leaving him poised to become only the third player to capture The Players Championship and the Tour Championship in the same year.

Garcia was at 8-under 202 and will play in the final pairing today with Phil Mickelson, who made some long par putts and just enough birdies for a 69, giving him a chance to end his year on a strong note.

Six days after Kim crushed Garcia in the leadoff singles match at the Ryder Cup, the 23-year-old American looked as if he would get the best of Garcia again with six straight one-putt greens. But Kim hit only four fairways, and his wildness caught up with him.

“I don’t know anyone that could have fixed that golf swing,” Kim said. “I was just trying to hit it in the right areas of the rough.”

The worst of it came on the ninth, when his tee shot hit a 48-year-old man in the forehead on the fly, opening a 2-inch gash that spilled blood on the Bermuda rough. The fan, David Whitfield of Atlanta, was taken to a hospital, but he never lost consciousness and appeared to be in good spirits.

Kim gave the man’s wife a golf ball that he signed with a note: “Sorry.”

Garcia birdied the par-5 ninth to catch Kim, and he pulled away with a birdie on the par-5 15th.

“Obviously, AK wasn’t on his A-game,” Garcia said.

Kim wound up with a 72 and was three shots behind.

Kim was errant off the tee no matter what club was in his hand, and he was fortunate to lose only one shot on the par-3 sixth when his fall wound up right of the green, off the slope and into the water. Garcia closed the gap to one shot with a 12-foot birdie on the seventh, then took the momentum on the ninth.

It was an ugly scene, with Whitfield on his back covering the 2-inch gash, and Kim pacing as the paramedics arrived.

“I thought I killed him,” Kim said. “It was an awful feeling to look down and see a golf ball-sized impression in his forehead and it’s cut open. It was probably the nastiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Camilo Villegas had a 69 and was at 3-under 207, while Ben Curtis (68) and Robert Allenby (67) were another shot back.