KAPALUA, Maui — Call it the loneliness of a long-distance golfer.

J.B. Holmes found out he was going to play alone some 15 minutes before teeing off yesterday when Arron Oberholser withdrew because of a bad back.

Going it alone had its advantages, according to Holmes, who, along with Trevor Immelman, shot the best round of the day — a 5-under-par 68 — in the wind and rain at Kapalua's Plantation Course.

Holmes moved into a three-way tie for fourth at 141, three strokes behind leader Vijay Singh going into today's third round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship.

"Didn't bother me too bad," said Holmes, glad that the solo act enabled him to set his own pace. He zipped through his round in 3 1/2 hours, despite a lengthy stop at the 10th tee to eat a banana and a candy bar.

"As hard as the wind is blowing out here, I can back off of it as much as I wanted to or wait for a gust or whatever," he said. "I obviously didn't have to wait on anybody else. It was just me, so it was better for me to play as a single."

Besides, he added, "I usually don't talk a lot in the round. I'm not one of those people that just chats up a whole bunch."

But get him after a round, such as the one he posted yesterday despite the conditions. He can really chat it up then, not only talking about his five birdies on the back nine or the 399-yard drive he blasted on the downwind downhill 12th hole or the "260-yard or something" 5-iron he hit for his second shot at the 663-yard par-5 finishing hole.

The subjects can range from losing weight, having dyslexia, buying a home in Orlando, fellow longball hitter John Daly showing how he can bend back his little pinkie that was so gross, having his tonsils out, playing in his new FootJoy pump shoes for the first time here, playing golf in South Korea, getting LASIK surgery to improve his vision and hoping for a lifetime supply of Kentucky Fried Chicken from his sponsor.

That was just in 2006, his rookie season on the PGA Tour. He became a first-time winner in the FBR Open in Phoenix, three weeks after making his debut as a tour member in the Sony Open in Hawai'i, where he posted his only other top-10 finish.

Holmes' intriguing past goes back to when, as a third-grader at Taylor County School, he played on its high school golf team.

"We were a small school and I think they only had four or five players on the team," he said.

Asked how many varsity letters he won in golf, Holmes replied, "Ten-year letterman."

Playing with older kids toughened him, and now it's Holmes who does the intimidating as one of the longest hitters on the tour. He finished second in driving distance to Bubba Watson last year, averaging 318.8 yards.

Longball is serving him well at the sprawling 7,411-yard Plantation Course, the only par-73 on the PGA Tour.

"It sets up great for me," said the 24-year-old Kentuckian.