Weir holds small lead over large crowd in Hawaii

KAPALUA, Hawaii -- Three days into a new season was enough to get the attention of a dozen players at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, starting with Mike Weir and his tenuous one-shot lead at Kapalua.

Weir kept firing at flags Saturday and making his share of birdies, only to see a leaderboard and realize just about everyone else was doing the same thing. Only after a delicate chip that he played to near perfection on the 18th hole did he get one last birdie for a 5-under 68 that put him atop the leaderboard.

"You obviously want to get as low as you can because it was scorable for a lot of guys out there," said Weir, who was at 13-under 206. "I saw the board, a lot of good scores. I wanted to keep making some birdies."

Nick Watney birdied his last two holes for a 67 and will play in the final group with Weir, one shot behind.

Daniel Chopra (67) and Jonathan Byrd (69) were another shot behind, and it was crowded behind them, everyone from defending champion Vijay Singh to U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera to Kapalua homeowner Jim Furyk.

In the 10 years that the season-opening event on the PGA Tour has been coming to the Plantation Course at Kapalua, there has never been so many players in contention going into the final round. Twelve players were separated by five shots.

This working vacation has quickly turned into a grind.

"There a lot of guys behind me with a lot of experience," Weir said. "I'm sure I'm going to have to shoot 5, 6, 7 under tomorrow, depending on what the day gives us. But I'm sure I'm going to have to shoot somewhere in that range to pull this thing out."

Chopra thought it might be even lower, remembering the 62 that K.J. Choi shot in the third round in 2003.

"If it's soft, the greens are soft and the wind doesn't blow, somebody can do that tomorrow," Chopra said. "Anybody can still win."

Weir had to wait three years to make it back to Kapalua, the longest stretch without winning in his career, and he appears ready to make sure he won't have to do that again. Playing in the final group with Stephen Ames of Calgary, followed along by a gallery with shirts, flags and even tattoos of the Canadian flag, Weir played without a bogey on a soggy course with strong breezes and sensational views.

But he never could pull away, not with the numbers being posted ahead of him.

Weir had three great looks at birdie starting on the 14th, but all of them grazed the lip. He wasn't too worried because the stroke was good, and he had not forgotten the two par saves he made from 12 feet earlier in the round.