Kapalua: Fiji's Vijay Singh stayed steady on another windy day on the Kapalua Plantation course on Saturday, opening a three-shot lead after three rounds of the US PGA Tour season-opening Mercedes Championship.

Singh nabbed five birdies with two bogeys in a three-under-par 70. That gave him a 54-hole total of 11-under 208, three shots in front of Australian Adam Scott and South African Trevor Immelman.

Scott heated up on the back nine en route to a 69 while Immelman, tied for a second a shot behind Singh to start the round, carded a 72.

Americans Will MacKenzie (73) and J.B. Holmes (71) were four shots back.

Three-time defending champion Stuart Appleby's quest for a "four-peat" all but disappeared as he carded a 72 to fall nine adrift on 217.

Singh never has won the PGA Tour's season opening event, limited to the previous season's winners, but has posted top-10 finishes in his past seven starts.

Singh said his knowledge of the mountainside course helped a lot on Saturday.

"I just scrambled a lot," he said.

"I knew where the grain was on the green. You remember the breaks, how quick they are, and that's all helpful at the end of the day," he said.

While Singh wasn't spectacular, he didn't make a bogey after the seventh hole.

"It was a little disappointing today. The scoring was good, but the ball-striking wasn't as good as I wanted it to be," he said.

"It was wishy-washy, but putting is a great equalizer," added Singh, who has gone to a mid-length belly putter.

 "I made a lot of three, four, five-footers," he said.

Singh, noting that after two difficult windy days in the first two rounds, Saturday's winds were even more tricky, remained cautious about his chances of victory.

"I'm going to go out there and try to play the best I can and if my best is good enough, that's good for me," said Singh, who is seeking his 30th career victory on the US tour.

 "I cannot help whatever the other guys do. I cannot go out there and wish they would play bad," he said.

Immelman's problems on the greens seemed to take the wind out of his sails somewhat.

"I felt like I hit the ball solidly today, so that was pleasing," he said.

"Most of my shots I hit on the wrong side of the pin, and I couldn't have too much of an aggressive putt at it," he said.

"It was frustrating on the greens. Obviously the two three-putts early didn't help me. But all in all, I hung in there. I'll need a special day to catch Vijay," he said.

Scott surged into contention with five birdies in the last seven holes.

"It was frustrating early because it felt like all my good shots came up a yard short or ended up in a bunker just off the green," Scott said.

"But not too much damage and then I just got hot coming in," he said.

Scott, ranked fourth in the world, has a chance to start the new season as he ended the last one: with a victory.

He was paired Sunday with Singh, a rematch of the final round at the Tour Championship in November, where Scott snapped a 35-event victory drought.