If Saturday’s third round of the 54th annual Mid-Pacific Open had lasted 5 hours, Hawaii’s Nick Mason and Lorens Chan would have been in a much better place this morning.

Instead, it lasted 6 hours. Californian Russell Surber avoided bogey the entire time.

His 5-under-par 67 was Saturday’s best score. At 8-under 208, he has a two-shot lead over Mason (71) going into today’s final round. John Ellis (71—212), last year’s Hawaii Pearl Open champ, is third and Kaneohe’s Dean Wilson (69—213) fourth.

"Today I probably hit the ball the worst of all three days," said Surber, 33, who played collegiately for Texas and had two top 10s on the Canadian Tour last year. "But I finally made putts today. On the front nine — my back nine — I managed to hit some close enough and got the putter going. That’s what it’s all about."

Ellis is also from California. Mason, 29, lives in Denver while playing mini tours, but graduated from Leilehua and the University of Hawaii-Hilo. He still uses his Vulcans golf bag.

He hit a 6-iron 195 yards, to within 3 feet, at the par-5 fifth hole (his 14th) Saturday and bolted to 10 under after making the eagle putt. Then Mason played the final four holes in 4 over. He had just seven pars. Mason birdied five of his first eight holes, but did not have another.

"I played really good on our front nine," Mason said. "Made a dumb bogey and still got 4 under out of it. Then this nine I missed three short putts. Thank goodness for the eagle or I would have had a horrible nine."

Chan’s last hour was even more galling. The ‘Iolani senior birdied the fifth (his 14th) to get to 8 under, then played the next three holes in 6 over, with a double bogey and a triple bogey.

He finished at 74—214 and is tied for sixth with defending champion Nathan Lashley. Chan is a shot behind Kalani’s Richard Hattori (70—213) among the amateurs.

"It was weird," Chan said, rolling his eyes. "I’m disappointed, but I’m actually OK now. At (No.) 6 I hit the chip too hard and had to get up and down for bogey. At (No.) 7 I hit a good drive, thought it would be safe, but it clipped a tree and went 30 more yards right. That’s kind of a bummer.

"At (No.) 8, don’t ask me what happened. I’d been missing it right all day and the one hole you can’t miss left I hooked."

The ‘Iolani senior will try to become the first to win three state high school championships next month. Today, he and everyone else will chase Surber, whose last win came at the Canadian Tour’s 2008 San Luis Potosi Open.

"A win is a win, you still fight the same demons whether you win a small one-day event at home or a huge four-day event,’ Surber said.

"You still fight the same battles mentally. A win would mean an awful lot to me. I haven’t won in a while."

Surber goes out with Mason and Ellis at 8:57 a.m. Hattori, Wilson and Chan start at 8:48.

Notes

LPGA pro Ayaka Kaneko was the only one of four females who entered to make the cut, which came at 154 for pros and 157 for amateurs.

Kaneko, a Sacred Hearts graduate, opened with a 73, but shot 79 the last two days.

David Ishii won the senior flight, which ended after 36 holes, with a score of 143. Ishii is currently tied for 11th overall. Paul Kimura won the senior amateur title with a 151.

Evan Kawai, 12, became the youngest player in tournament history to get a hole-in-one. He aced No. 4 on Thursday.