There weren’t any Hawaii residents left in the Sony Open in Hawaii field by Saturday morning, but a guy from Wisconsin might come close to filling the role of hometown favorite.

Heck, even the trees at Waialae Country Club seem to welcome Jerry Kelly back on his annual visits.

"Well you’ve got a big Wisconsin ‘W’ on the back of the No. 16 green, so I feel pretty good every time I walk up there," said Kelly, who playfully flashed a "W" for Golf Channel’s camera in front of Waialae’s trademark crisscrossed palm trees after making a long birdie putt.

Playing at Waialae for the 16th straight year, Kelly climbed into contention on Saturday with a 4-under-par 66 in his 56th round in the event.

The 2002 Sony Open champion enters No. 57 at 10 under par for the week and in the upper tier of a tightly packed leaderboard. His birdie putt from the fringe on the par-5 18th left him tied for fourth heading into the final round, two shots behind leader Chris Kirk.

"The people have embraced me, even before I won," Kelly said. "It’s one of the reasons I won here, because I’ve really enjoyed coming here and I’ve done a lot of things with a lot of people outside the ropes, which makes for fun weeks."

Kelly made a relatively quiet debut here in 1999 with four rounds in the 70s to tie for 55th. Three years later, he captured his first PGA Tour title at Waialae and had four more top-10 finishes.

Hanging out with local chef Roy Yamaguchi to watch the BCS bowl games is now an annual rite for Kelly, who has also participated in the Pro-Junior Skills Challenge each of the past 10 years.

He played with junior Kaci Masuda in Tuesday’s event and has kept in touch with Moanalua grad Kristina Merkle. After partnering in the skills challenge, Kelly made good on a promise by caddying for Merkle when she played in the Women’s Amateur Public Links in Wisconsin in 2008.

Kelly has remained a fixture in the Sony Open field, and it has been a little while since he went into Sunday this close to the lead. After finishing third in 2008, his best showing since was ninth in 2011. He was 29th the next year, and his two-round total of 1 under last year left him on the wrong side of the cut for only the second time.

He fired 67s on Thursday and Friday this year before posting six birdies against two three-putt bogeys in the third round to keep pace with the leaders.

"It’s all bunched up and you play as hard as you can tomorrow and see what you can get done," Kelly said as he inched along the autograph line on his way toward the practice range. "I’ve been at it so long, it’s just another round."

Kelly got to 10 under after his shot on the par-3 11th hole stopped about 3 feet from the cup to set up his fourth birdie of the round. He said he misread the grain on the Bermuda greens when he bogeyed Nos. 14 and 17, but he answered by dropping a 31-foot putt from across the green on 16 and made his 13-footer from just off the green on 18.

"There’s not a lot of hit it high and land it. It’s scoot-it golf and I’m pretty good at scooting-it golf," said Kelly, whose last PGA Tour win came in 2009 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. "My misses are usually a good thin miss and I keep the golf ball in front of me and keep it bouncing toward the pin.

"It plays to my game. It’s nice when it’s firm. It’s been pretty wet the last bunch of years, hopefully we don’t get much from this tonight," he said, nodding toward the dark clouds over the ocean.