Els Is Back in Position to Win Title at Kapalua

KAPALUA, Hawaii — The sun was setting over the island of Lanai as Ernie Els capped off another great round in paradise, holing a five-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole in the Mercedes Championship to set a tournament record and build a three-stroke lead.

Now comes the hard part for the Big Easy.

Two years ago, he took a four-stroke lead into the weekend at Kapalua only to crumble with the worst score of the third round. The year before that, he played the supporting role in a sensational duel with Tiger Woods.

This might be his best chance yet.

Els continued his assault on the par fives and shot an eight-under 65 on Friday. He broke the 36-hole tournament record at 129, and wound up three shots clear of Bob Estes.

“The last two times here, I just got beat,” Els said. “I’ve got to be watching out for them again the next couple of days. Low numbers are to be made out there. These guys can do it. By the same token, I like playing this golf course.

“I really feel like the season is right there for me. Might as well make a good start to it.”

Estes didn’t mind his position, either. He hasn’t made a bogey in two trips around the Plantation Course at Kapalua, and shot his second straight 66 to earn a spot in the final pairing with Els.

K.J. Choi of South Korea, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour last year, had his second straight 67 and was alone in third at 134, followed by the trio of Retief Goosen (65), Jerry Kelly (70) and Chris Riley (70).

Riley and Els appeared to separate themselves from the pack by matching great shots on another tame day along the rugged coastline of western Maui.

Riley played in the group ahead of Els, and chipped in from just about the same spot as Els on the par-five ninth for eagle, putting him at 13 under and momentarily in the lead, but he couldn’t keep pace.

Jim Furyk couldn’t keep up with Els, either.

He started the second round tied for the lead, but bogeyed the second hole and never got going. Furyk finished with a 72, and was at 136 with Ian Leggatt.

With 36 holes left -- and Woods nowhere to be found, back in Florida recovering from knee surgery -- everything is going Els’ way.

“It’s not the easiest thing to go to sleep on a lead every night,” Els said. “You feel like you want to keep going.”

Nobody knows that better than Els, especially at Kapalua.

He was running away with the Mercedes two years ago until a bad swing spooked him on No. 12, and he proceeded to hit into the hazard on the remaining par fives. He lost his composure, lost the lead and eventually lost the tournament.

“I think the test for me now is just to be patient and play my shots,” he said. “Let’s see what happens tomorrow. I want to play each shot as good as I can. We’ll count them up, hopefully to a nice number.”

Els did a number on the 36-man field of winners only, especially on the par fives.

He easily cleared the gorge on No. 5 with a five-iron to set up a routine birdie. His seven-iron rolled back off the green at No. 9, but he solved that by chipping in. He reached the 15th green with a three-iron for another two-putt birdie, and had to scramble at the end.

His drive wound up in the rough, the ball slightly above his feet. Els’ four-iron came up short but stayed in the fairway just long enough to set up a simple pitch to five feet.

It wasn’t that simple for everyone else.

Matt Gogel and Chris DiMarco each had a 75, the only players who failed to shoot par or better. Still, everyone was under par after 36 holes.

Defending champion Sergio Garcia wound up with a 73 and is 15 strokes out of the lead.