”Just handle what’s in front of you now, and the future will take care of itself.”

— Dan Millman, “Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior”

That’s good advice for any golfer, but it was especially true Saturday as most of the Champions Tour pillaged windless and hence defenseless Kapolei Golf Course.

And Corey Pavin — fashioner of an 11-under-par 61 for the best round of the day and his esteemed career — read those words on his way to the islands.

A bit of a contradiction, since it was a line-’em-up, knock-’em-down kind of day. Attack with impunity … If you don’t you will surely get left behind.

But the 1995 U.S. Open champion said he found himself in a zen-like state, birdieing the final five holes without even realizing it until his caddy told him.

“Once in a while I get into like I’m just walking around and happen to play some good golf,” the two-time Hawaiian Open champion said. “Maybe it’s the spirits of the Hawaiian Islands. I read a particular book, set in Molokai, some real spiritual stuff.”

Millman’s work is a lot about remembering to enjoy the journey and not worrying too much about the goal. Pavin says he wasn’t much of a reader until recent years but Millman appeals to his interests.

“Now I like creation things, spiritual, whether it be the Bible, Daoism, whatever,” said Pavin, who converted from Judaism to Christianity in 1991. “Anything about the philosophical way of living life. I enjoy reading that kind of thing.”

He found the greens Saturday to his reading pleasure as well, needing just 24 putts to make the circuit.

“It was a good finish,” said the 2010 Ryder Cup captain. “It was just good all day. I made some putts finally. It’s been a tough year on the greens. But I’ve been working real hard on it and finally made some putts.”

Pavin enters today’s final round tied for third with Vijay Singh at 13 under, two strokes behind leaders Fred Funk and Paul Goydos.

Goydos, winner of the 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii, shot 9 under Saturday. He is also an avid reader but favors different genres than does Pavin. He said he is in the middle of the Vince Flynn series of political thriller novels featuring CIA counter-terrorism agent Mitch Rapp.

“I read all kinds of things, even stuff like ‘The Lexqgend of Drizzt’ (which is about elves),” said Goydos.

Books have always been a big part of his life, including when Goydos was a substitute school teacher early in his pro golfing career.

“Math, science, P.E.,” he said. “Fifth grade, kindergarten. That’s a full day’s work right there.”

Goydos, always one with a good story, told Saturday of being a helper in his daughter’s sixth-grade classroom about 10 years ago. One of the books the kids were reading was about golf, and his picture was in it — but none of the youngsters identified Goydos, who had been on the PGA Tour nearly 15 years including a win at the Bay Hill Invitational.

“They were all reading ‘The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,’ ” he said.