Duval Is Coasting Along at 21 Under

How good is David Duval? Even Tiger Woods is starting to ask for strokes.

“Never,” Duval said after his five-under-par 68 gave him a five-stroke lead going into the final round of the season-opening Mercedes Championships. “I’ll take a few, but I don’t give.”

All anyone wanted Saturday on a breezy day at the Kapalua Plantation course was a chance. Duval wouldn’t give them that, either.

“I birdied three of the first four holes on the back nine, so I felt like I was doing what I needed to do,” said Fred Funk, whose 68 left him five strokes behind. “Unfortunately, David was doing the same thing. It’s hard to catch a guy like David.”

The trade winds finally blew off the northeast coast of Maui, but it apparently will take much more than that to stop Duval.

The forecast is for stronger gusts today.

“I’m obviously playing quite well,” said Duval, who made his first bogey in 44 holes but still walked off the Plantation course at 21-under 198. “Poor shots never really enter your mind. You just get up there, pick out a correct target, make your calculations with the wind and hit it there.”

If only it was that simple for everyone else.

Duval is the player regarded as the best in the world, particularly after winning four times last year along with the Vardon Trophy for the lowest scoring average.

And this is only the first tournament of the year.

“I’m just glad he’s going skiing and not playing at the Sony Open,” said Davis Love III, referring to the the PGA Tour stop in Honolulu.

All Duval needs today is a round of 72 to break the tournament scoring record in relation to par. A 68 would break the record of 21-under 267 that Calvin Peete set in 1986 when the Mercedes was played at La Costa Resort.

“I’m just going to keep trying to do what I’ve done, which is pretty simple,” Duval said.

Billy Mayfair was alone in third at 204. Woods made a nice run and had the best round of the day, a six-under 67 that left him at 205 and very much in Duval’s wake.

“I was hoping to get back to where I could possibly see him,” Woods said. “It might have been a good tournament for me if he had given me one shot for every nine holes. Then, I’d only be one back.”

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In Front

Leaders after three rounds at Kapalua, Hawaii:

$2.6-MILLION MERCEDES

CHAMPIONSHIPS--Par 73

David Duval: 67-63-68--198 -21

Fred Funk: 66-69-68--203 -16

Billy Mayfair: 66-69-69--204 -15

Tiger Woods: 69-69-67--205 -14

Jim Furyk: 68-69-68--205 -14

Vijay Singh: 70-65-70--205 -14

Mark O’Meara: 70-68-69--207 -12

Complete results, Page 12