Golf:First-time players often struggle in the PGA Tour's season-opening event at the Kapalua Resort but US Open champion Graeme McDowell has flourished in Hawaii this week.
Despite launching his 2011 campaign with new Srixon iron in his bag, the Portrush pro will go into today's final round of the Tournament of Champions in a tie for sixth, just six shots off the lead.
"All in all, I'm very happy the way I've played this week coming out here with some new stuff in the bag," said McDowell after carding a third round five-under-par 68 in tricky wind conditions. "I was just anxious to come here for the first time and see what was going on really. I've struck the ball very well, especially my iron play."
McDowell, who has switched his golf club manufacturer from Callaway to Srixon, felt the large greens on Kapalua's Plantation Course posed the biggest problem for first-time players.
"These greens will definitely leave you scratching your head a few times," he said after taking 29 putts. "A lot of first-timers can kind of go: 'This is a bit weird this place.' It just takes a bit of knowing.
"I can see why guys continue to play well here, guys who have played well in the past - the (Stuart) Applebys, the (Jim) Furyks and the (Geoff) Ogilvys. Once you get your head around the slopes, the grain and the tendencies of this golf course, I can understand that you can continue to come back and play well here."
McDowell's one frustration over the last two days has been his failure to shoot lower scores on the back nine. "I have played the front nine pretty well but I haven't played these last five or six holes all that well," he said after coming home in two-under 35.
"There are two par-fives coming in and a couple of short par fours and I haven't taken advantage. I missed a short one on 14, three-putted 15, had a chance of 16 which I didn't take and birdied the hardest hole on the way in - 17."
Robert Garrigus sank a monster 60 foot eagle putt at the last to join fellow Americans Steve Stricker and Jonathan Byrd in a tie for the lead on 18 under 201.
Garrigus repeatedly punched his right fist into the air in celebration after his ball rammed into the back of the cup to give him a four-under-par 69 to join Stricker (65) and Byrd (67).
"That one on 18 sure was sweet," said a smiling Garrigus. "I'm thinking if it didn't catch the hole it wouldn't have been on the green.
Stricker birdied six of the last eight holes to set the clubhouse lead before being joined at the top by Byrd and Garrigus.
"Teeing off, you didn't really know what to expect because the wind had flipped around," Stricker said after recording nine birdies and a lone bogey.
McDowell ended last year with a hectic flourish, criss-crossing several time zones as he played seven tournaments in as many weeks - the last of them the Chevron World Challenge where he beat host Tiger Woods in a play-off.
He will next play in the European Tour's Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in two weeks' time before taking a month off to recharge his batteries.
"In many ways, I am seeing this as putting an end to the end of last year," he said. "I just feel like I am continuing on. Abu Dhabi will signal the end of something for me.
"I will then try to re-set and re-charge, put the feet up and rest, get into the gym and prepare myself for the season because Christmas was over in a flash and I was back on the horse again before I knew it. I am looking forward to some time off."
Collated third round scores and totals in the USPGA Tour Hyundai Tournament of Champions, The Plantation Course — Kapalua Resort, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii, United States
(USA unless stated, Irish in boldpar 73):
201Steve Stricker 69 67 65, Robert Garrigus 69 63 69, Jonathan Byrd 66 68 67
204Carl Pettersson (Swe) 66 67 71
205Matt Kuchar 69 70 66
207Bill Haas 68 70 69, Graeme McDowell (NIrl) 71 68 68
208Jim Furyk 68 68 72, Bill Lunde 70 68 70, Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 68 70, Jason Day (Aus) 73 66 69
209Arjun Atwal (Ind) 72 69 68
210Francesco Molinari (Ita) 69 67 74, Dustin Johnson 71 66 73, Charley Hoffman 68 75 67, Adam Scott (Aus) 73 67 70, Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 64 74, Ryan Palmer 70 72 68
211Ben Crane 67 70 74, Justin Rose (Eng) 75 67 69
213Zach Johnson 71 73 69, Cameron Beckman 72 71 70, Bubba Watson 70 70 73, Tim Clark (Rsa) 72 68 73, Matt Bettencourt 73 70 70
214Anthony Kim 69 71 74
216Heath Slocum 70 74 72, Jason Bohn 72 72 72
217Stuart Appleby (Aus) 69 75 73
218Hunter Mahan 70 70 78
224Rocco Mediate 79 70 75
226Derek Lamely 72 76 78
