KAPALUA, Maui — Life is good for Will MacKenzie.

In fact, he's putting on the ritz right now at the Mercedes-Benz Championship. The Ritz-Carlton Kapalua, that is.

No Motel 6 for him anymore. Or sleeping in a van in Montana or a cave in Alaska. No more sneaking past security to take a shower at a mountain lodge or scrounging for a bar of soap and towels to dry off.

Since picking up the golf sticks again, he's no longer hanging 10. Instead, he's hanging with 54-hole leader Vijay Singh. At least trying to.

MacKenzie is tied for fourth with J.B. Holmes at 212, four strokes behind Singh going into today's final round at the Plantation Course. Adam Scott and Trevor Immelman are at 211.

Oh, MacKenzie hasn't totally given up surfing. He surfed "Little Max" and another site with a name that's not fit to print in a family newspaper near here this week. And he plans to surf off Diamond Head when he plays in the Sony Open in Hawai'i next week.

But for now, "it's all golf," he said.

MacKenzie struggled to a par 73 that included five bogeys yesterday, two of them coming on three-putts at the par-3 eighth and 11th holes.

"The conditions were tough today," said MacKenzie, who qualified for the winners-only event with his first PGA Tour victory in the Reno-Tahoe Open last year.

"I hit a couple of bad shots, but I hit some good ones, too. I'm not terribly displeased with the way I played today."

One shot he wished he had back was his third at the par-5 15th. He missed the green on his pitch and couldn't get up and down, winding up with a bogey. Until then, he had played the par-5s in 9-under.

Still, MacKenzie remains the media's darling in the 34-player field.

How can you not like a guy who gave up golf because he was "bummed out" as a 14-year-old junior golfer.

He turned to extreme sports instead, snowboarding, kayaking and rock-climbing. And spent three months in Costa Rica just surfing.

Then he had an epiphany after watching Payne Stewart, one of his golf heroes, win the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

That rekindled his interest in golf.

So instead of washing dishes, working at Taco Bell and selling hammocks to make a few bucks, he went into his parents' barn, dusted off his clubs and played again.

First the minitours, then the Canadian Tour and the Hooters Tour.

He went to Q-School, lost his card, went back again and last year earned $879,965 to finish 100th on the money list. But more important, a victory and the trip here.

And what a trip it has been for MacKenzie, so elated to be staying at the Ritz-Carlton that he gave his room number on the Golf Channel. Yes, he received quite a few calls and had to turn off his phone to get some sleep.

MacKenzie has such an appreciation for golf right now. Sort of an all-this and Maui, too.

"I know that I have to play great golf to stay out here (on the tour), so yeah, I've got to play great golf. I'm just blessed that I'm here.

"If for some reason I just can't catch a victory this year, I might just come back and hang out next year before the Sony because I'm enjoying myself so much," he said.