KAPALUA, Maui — It was a grinding kind of a day, agreed the only six golfers in red numbers going into today's final round of the Mercedes Championships.

The winds, which blew 30 mph all day, didn't let up again, making birdies at the par-73 Plantation Course as rare as a Hawaiian nene.

The third round finally produced two eagles — there were 11 last year — but they were needed just to post a good score as the 28-player field once again found conditions difficult and couldn't break 70.

One of the eagles was by Lucas Glover, who made the event's first hole-in-one since it moved here in 1999.

Glover aced the 203-yard eighth hole with a 5-iron, enabling him to join 54-hole leader Stuart Appleby as the only players to shoot a 70, the day's best round.

"That one you just can't believe," Glover said about his fourth career hole-in-one, his second competitively.

"That's a tough hole with that wind. Just that hole, the wind, the conditions, everything. That was pretty lucky."

The other eagle was by Mark Calcavecchia, who picked up two strokes at the 663-yard, par-5 18th just to finish his round at even par.

It was that kind of a day.

While Appleby hopes to join the PGA Tour A-list by winning the same tournament for the third year in a row, Glover is already a winner. His hole-in-one earned him a 2006 Mercedes Benz worth $87,375.

Asked what kind of wheels he drives now, the 26-year-old former Clemson All-American said a Chevy Tahoe.

You a Mercedes kind of a guy?

"I am now," said Glover, who won the Funai Classic at Walt Disney World for his first career victory and first trip to the Mercedes Championships.

It's also his honeymoon of sorts. He got married last month, so it won't be surprising if his wife, Jennifer, has already asked for the car keys.

Not bad for a guy who started the tournament on Thursday by bogeying his first four holes of the 2006 season. He still hasn't parred the par-3 second hole, bogeying it all three days.

"Here we go again," Glover said to himself.

"I made two long putts on 3 and 4 to keep from bogeying those holes," he said. "I can't get off to a good start. That's going to be the ticket for me tomorrow. I'm going to have to concentrate on the first four, five holes."

Despite the horrible start Thursday, Glover battled to finish with a 74. He followed with 73-70 to put him alone at 217, trailing only Appleby, Michael Campbell and Jim Furyk in the chase for the $1.08 million winning paycheck.

On a day when par was a good score, Glover said those two long (15 and 12 feet, respectively) par putts he made at the third and fourth holes really saved him more than anything else.

That he's even in contention, let alone playing here in the winners-only event — and now winning a luxury car — has been a year-long dream ride for Glover, who finished on the top-30 money list with more than $2 million.

He's enjoying himself on the trip here and at a golf course he calls "weird" because it's so different from any others he has played.

"I enjoy it; I think it's great," Glover said. "I'm all for something other than 480-yard par-4s that go like this (straight). And it's the first time I've actually ever gotten into a car to go to the fairway or to the green."

The players are ferried to some of the holes, such as the sixth tee which is nearly half a mile from the fifth green.

Glover can't wait for one specific ride later this year — from his home in Greenville, S.C., to Augusta, Ga., for his first Masters.

"That's a big deal from where I come from," he said. "I used to go down there every year. I went every Saturday for 10 years straight."

You can just see him tooling down in his new Mercedes Benz with Georgia on his mind.

Bill Kwon can be at bkwon@aloha.net.