ASSOCIATED PRESS Castle alum Dean Wilson cleaned his sunglasses yesterday before starting his third round.

Hawaii’s Wilson hopes for a lengthy stay in the ‘red’ zone

KAPALUA, Maui » Dean Wilson walked off the 18th green yesterday with a broad smile on his face, the first time that's happened since he met the Plantation Course more than a week ago.

Starting the day only a stroke removed from the bottom of the Mercedes-Benz Championship barrel, the Kaneohe resident finished his third round in red with a 1-under 72, thanks in part to his third birdie of the week at the famed finishing hole.

As he left the 18th green, he shook the hand of playing partner D.J. Trahan and gave a wave to the local fans, who applauded as if he were leading the event. Considering how few golfers located the red end of the scorecard in the blustery conditions, it was a small victory for Wilson, who finds himself tied for 31st at 11-over 230 through 54 holes.

"It felt better today," Wilson said. "I know it sounds kind of funny, but I've been driving the ball really well. It's just the greens that have killed me. Today I was able to get the balls on the greens and was able to make a couple of putts coming in."

Wilson needed 40 putts on Thursday en route to an 8-over 80. He lowered that number to a more reasonable 34 on Friday, but still fired a 5-over 78. Yesterday, he hit a meager 12 greens in regulation, but needed only 30 putts to complete his round, a marked improvement in only two days.

"It was nice to get 1 under par," Wilson said. "It's tough. I'm amazed guys can go out there and consistently shoot 4 or 5 under. I'm glad to get one round under par. I hope I can get another one tomorrow."

Wilson conceded he has spent a lot of time dealing with outside-the-ropes commitments that have cut into his practice sessions. Next week, his time will be even more precious as he tries to prepare for the Sony Open in Hawaii.

"I haven't played a tournament for a long time, not since the Tour Championship," Wilson said. "Just getting into that groove and feeling comfortable with it. You can do all the practice you want on the driving range and recreational golf, but in the tournament it's a little different. Maybe I can attribute my poor scores the first couple of days to being a little rusty. Hopefully I can get some rounds under my belt and get ready for next week."

Special bookends: Australian Adam Scott has a chance to do something only Tiger Woods has done in recent memory. If he can track down third-round leader Vijay Singh, Scott will be the first golfer in six years to win the last event of the previous season and the first one of the new campaign.

"It's nice to be in contention again this week after finishing 2006 on a positive note. The main goal out here is to win golf tounaments. If I can have a good day tomorrow, maybe I can grab some headlines from Tiger with a two-tournament winning streak."

Woods won the 1999 Players Championship and the 2000 Mercedes title. Scott is trying to do the same thing, but will need a little more help than did Woods, who was tied for the lead with Ernie Els going into the final round, before beating him in a playoff.

First-timers doing well: There are five first-time golfers here among the top 10 entering today's final round. They are Trevor Immelman, who is tied for second with Scott; Will MacKenzie and J.B. Holmes, who are tied for fourth; Troy Matteson (sixth) and J.J. Henry (eighth).

Davis Love III is the only golfer in the top 10 (ninth) entering today's final round who has won the Mercedes title, and that was in 1993 when this winners-only tournament was held at La Costa Country Club in Carlsbad, Calif.

Appleby out of it: Australian Stuart Appleby won't be driving out of here with a new Mercedes for the first time since 2003. The three-time defending champion trails Singh by nine shots and won't be a factor in today's final round.

He is currently 10th at 2 under for the tournament. He and Singh have had some heated battles the last three years, with Singh finishing second twice and tied for fifth once with Scott.

Going long: There were two more drives today that exceeded 400 yards, bringing the total to an even dozen. John Rollins knocked one 404 yards and Holmes had a 402-yarder. The longest drive of the week was 437 yards by Brett Wetterich at the par-4 12th on Thursday.

As for those who prefer to be accurate rather than long, Rod Pampling hit all 15 fairways yesterday, while Immelman hit all 18 greens. Unfortunately for the South African, his putter failed him more often than not. He had only three birdies for the day en route to a 1-under 72.

Inside the numbers: The par-3 eighth was the most difficult hole yesterday, with a scoring average of 3.545. There was only one birdie on the hole (Singh), with 20 pars, seven bogeys, three double bogeys and two triples -- by Jeff Maggert and U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy.

The easiest hole was the par-5 18th with a scoring average of 4.485. There were 17 birdies and 16 pars. There were no eagles, but Immelman just missed one in the last group coming in.