KAPALUA, Maui » For three days, Mother Nature blew the start of the 2013 PGA Tour season to bits. On the fourth day, Dustin Johnson and Father Time put it back together.

Johnson ripped through Kapalua Plantation’s 30-mph tradewinds to shoot 69-66 in Monday’s delayed opening rounds of the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. At 11-under-par 135, he has a three-shot lead over defending champion Steve Stricker going into today’s final round.

Stricker, who turns 46 next month, is the oldest player in the field — by a bunch. He is also ranked 18th in the world, and the last time he did not break par at Kapalua was 2002. He is 86 under in his past 19 rounds here. This is the first time in three years he hasn’t led going into the final day.

Clearly he is a threat to Johnson, who is 17 years younger, and everybody else today despite limping through his 36 holes Monday. Stricker was flat out on the 18th fairway stretching moments before launching in an eagle from the fairway in the afternoon round. He shot rounds of 71-67.

"Nobody knows if it’s a muscle with pressure on the sciatic nerve or if there’s a problem with a disk," Stricker said. "My back feels great. I don’t feel tight. I don’t feel stiff. Just every time I get over to my left side, I’m getting a shooting pain down my leg.

"My tempo was good because I can’t swing at it very hard and that’s a blessing in this wind. So you hit a lot of chip shots underneath the wind. It was uncomfortable to play, but it never really got any worse than when it really started. It felt as crappy on the first hole as the last hole."

Hyundai finally began on the day it was scheduled to end after being battered by relentless blasts of wind. Gusts up to 50-plus mph forced tour officials to suspend — and scrub — play Friday and Sunday. The 30 winners from last year never even started Saturday.

Monday, those winds scaled back. Conditions went from extreme and unplayable to relatively routine, at least for here. Pin placements were kind and greens deliberately grown out to keep golf balls from rolling away — as they had at an alarming rate.

Johnson came in a week early and put in six practice rounds in search of his seventh victory. He is trying to become the first since Tiger Woods to win a tournament in each of his first six years out of college.

His work on Marathon Monday gives him a great shot at it today and he has a little history on his side. He has won the last two 54-hole events on the PGA Tour (2011 Barclays and 2009 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am).

Johnson played the back nine in 4-under 33 in the morning’s first round, shooting 69 despite three three-putts in a five-hole span. He had a share of first with 2011 Sony Open in Hawaii champ Mark Wilson and Nick Watney, who drained a 68-foot eagle putt on the final hole.

In the afternoon, those two cooled but Johnson only got hotter. He avoided bogey until hitting into the hazard at the 17th — "I hit it a little too solid" — and played the par 5s in 5 under. His birdies bordered on the ridiculously easy.

He chipped to a foot on the 12th to take first alone at 7 under, then two-putted for birdie at Nos. 14 and 15. He converted from inside 4 feet on the next hole to get to 10 under, gave it back with his only bogey at the 17th, then finished with a flourish.

From 243 yards out, he hit 6-iron to 5 feet and scraped the eagle putt in easily, looking just as fresh as he had when he started nine hours earlier.

"We all knew starting out we were playing 36 holes and it’s been a long day," he said. "I played really good from start to finish. I hit a lot of greens. I think maybe I missed three greens all day. These greens are big, but still with the wind, they are really tough to get close to the hole."

Last year Johnson collected nine top 10s and $3.4 million, and moved up to 23rd in the World Golf Ranking. He is known for his prodigious driving, ranking fourth off the tee last year at 310 yards.

Monday, he was first in approach shot proximity (32 feet, 3 inches) and second in greens in regulation (91.7 percent) and driving distance (274.6). He was also fortunate enough to be playing two rounds while he was on a hot streak.

Stricker did not feel as fortunate, but will be back today to "give it a whack."

Masters champ Bubba Watson (70-69—139) moved into third alone with birdie on the final hole. He and Wilson had the only bogey-free rounds of the day, both in the morning.

Keegan Bradley (71-69) and Brandt Snedeker (70-70) are tied for fourth, another shot back. The top five are all among the top 23 in the world rankings.

Today will be only the third time this tournament, which started in 1953, has finished after 54 holes. Then 20 of these players head to Oahu for the first full-field event of the year. The Sony Open in Hawaii starts Thursday at Waialae Country Club.

Johnson Wagner, who won at Waialae last year, has a share of 10th going into today’s round. He was ninth at Kapalua a year ago.

Gates open at 6:45 a.m. today. Tickets for any day will be honored and will also be available for purchase at the gate.