CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Billy Mayfair remembers the feeling of winning a golf tournament.
"Well, I won Monday in the qualifier," Mayfair said. "I won the Friday game at Whisper Rock a few weeks ago. I beat my wife last Saturday, too."
The last time he won a PGA Tour event? Well, that was quite a while ago.
Mayfair, 43, who won a 77-player Monday qualifier just to get into the $6.5 million Wells Fargo Championship, shot a 1-under-par 71 Saturday and takes a two-shot lead into today's final round at Quail Hollow Club at 9-under 207.
The five-time PGA Tour winner is seeking his first win in 12 years.
"It's been a long time since I've won, and I would love to have that feeling again, there's no doubt," Mayfair said. "I don't think you ever lose that feeling [of how to win], even though it's been a long time."
Phil Mickelson, looking to add a second consecutive title to his Masters victory three weeks ago, and Davis Love III, a 20-time PGA Tour winner who last won in 2008, are tied for second at 209. Myrtle Beach resident Dustin Johnson, Angel Cabrera and J.J. Henry are three shots back in a tie for fourth.
Mayfair is trying to become the first Monday qualifier to win a PGA Tour event since Fred Wadsworth won the 1986 Southern Open.
"I've had a lot of things creep into my mind [this week]," Mayfair said. "I'm trying not to think about it, but obviously you put yourself in the position and you want to take advantage of it when you get in the position.
"Now I've got to use my 21 years of experience out here, and I've got to say, 'Hey, I've been doing this for a long time and I know what I need to do [today] and how to handle it.'"
Mayfair, a member of Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., along with a number of other tour players, including Mickelson, does have the distinction of being the only player to beat Tiger Woods in a playoff, at the 1998 Nissan Open. That was five months before his last win.
Perhaps his best chance to win over the past 12 years came in a playoff loss to Jose Coceres at the 2001 Verizon Heritage in Hilton Head Island, but he's also finished second twice in 2008 and once in both 2007 and 2005.
Mayfair birdied the fifth, 10th and 13th holes, and kept his round from getting away from him after bogeying the par-5 seventh after driving into the water. He hit a tree off the tee on the par-4 eighth but saved par, and chipped to 2 feet from 70 feet to save par on the ninth. A 17-foot par putt on the 12th hole after a terrible first putt also kept him from falling back to the pack.
"When you haven't won in a long time you start doubting yourself a little bit and maybe don't have the confidence that you should have," Mayfair said. "So today was a big day for me. To go out there and have the lead and still have the lead going into the fourth round will give me confidence and make me sleep a little bit better tonight."
Mayfair, who had testicular cancer surgery in 2006, finished 157th on the money list last season to lose his tour card. He attempted Monday qualifying one other time this year, in the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, but missed by a few shots.
He has relied primarily on sponsor exemptions to get into eight events and has made five cuts without a top-20 finish. A win today gives him exempt status through the 2012 season.
"Obviously it's not fun not being exempt," Mayfair said. "Twenty-one years out here being fully exempt, and this is my first year I haven't been, and it's been a tough road of it so far. ... If I can get myself in a good position and win [today], I don't have to worry about that for a while."
Mayfair will be paired in the final twosome with Love, who shot one of Saturday's more impressive rounds with a bogey-free 68. Love tied for fifth in his first start at the Sony Open in January, but has missed five of seven cuts since and is coming off a finish of 71st at the Heritage.
He birdied three of his final five holes Saturday.
"I got a little good feeling about my ball-striking [Wednesday] and it's carried through the whole week," Love said. "I'll just be patient and try to enjoy playing and keep my swing pace."