KAHUKU — Whatever is the reason for his success in Hawai'i, Arizona pro Jesse Mueller hopes it can last at least for another 24 hours as he takes a four-stroke lead going into today's final round of the Turtle Bay Resort Hawai'i State Open.

Mueller hopes to close out the year the way it began — winning a tournament in Hawai'i. He won the Hawai'i Pearl Open in February. Now, he's just one round from finding a pot of gold at each end of his rainbow connection. Mueller followed his opening 66 with a 67 yesterday for a 133 total at the Palmer Course.

That put him four shots up on Steve Watanabe, the Northern California PGA assistant pro stroke-play and match-play champion, who's at 70—137, and Hawai'i PGA Tour veteran Dean Wilson, whose back-to-back 69s enabled him to join the final threesome going out at 9:36 this morning at the Fazio Course.

"I played well again and hit it pretty solid all day. I'm pretty happy, for sure," Mueller said. He posted six birdies but had his first bogey of the tournament at the par-4 sixth, his 15th hole of the day. "I'm looking forward to playing with Dean. I know he's a great player and on tour. Hopefully, I can learn from him."

Wilson described his round as "pretty boring," as conditions were the same as the day before except for a brief rain squall when his group played the sixth hole. "I played good, nice and solid, no bogeys," said Wilson, who stiffed a 5-iron to within a foot at the uphill par-3 15th, playing 177 yards into the wind, for one of his three birdies.

Making up five strokes is "doable," according to Wilson. "Yeah, I think so. I haven't played there (Fazio) for a long time, but if I can shoot a real good score and maybe catch up some shots early, we'll see if we can get a tournament."

Watanabe struggled with his putter, three-putting twice, before closing with birdies at 17 and 18, putting him in a good mindset for today's final round. "I grinded it out there, but overall I was pleased how I finished. Four shots back, we'll see what happens. I'm looking forward to playing with Jesse and Dean. I've never played with Dean or Jesse, so I'm looking forward to it."

Sean Maekawa, a University of Oregon senior from the Big Island, is fourth at 139, while Iolani alum David Fink, an Oregon State freshman, and Tony Finau are tied for fifth at 140.

Tadd Fujikawa is tied for seventh at 141, coming back with four birdies after "a few bad swings early," he said. "I kind of brought it back towards the end, which I was happy about."

David Havens, who shared the first-round lead with Mueller after a bogey-free 66, shot 10 strokes higher and is tied for 10th with Jarett Hamamoto.

Among the 48 players making the 36-hole cutoff score of 152 were three-time champions Kevin Hayashi and David Ishii, veteran amateurs Jonathan Ota and Brandan Kop, and LPGA pro Katie Futcher, who birdied the difficult 17th to shoot 1-under before making the turn. She's at 73—147 after double-bogeying the par-5 third when she drove into the water.

Futcher three-putted only once, compared to four the day before. It came at the par-4 sixth hole and her first putt — from 90 feet — was so far away, according to Futcher, it was "raining by the pin and sunny where I was."

Defending champion Nick Mason and Jim Seki, a former Punahou standout who won the 2002 Pac-10 championship playing for Stanford, turned in the day's best rounds, 6-under 66s. And they needed the bounce back to make the cut after shooting 79 and 80, respectively. Seki played the back nine in a career-best 29, birdieing every hole except 10 and 15.

Kirk Nelson is the runaway leader among the seniors, leading by eight strokes after shooting a 64 at the Fazio Course for a 36-hole 132. "It was fun," said the Makena pro, who had nine birdies, six on the back nine. As for his big lead, Nelson said, "I don't know what comfortably ahead is."

In the women's division, Cyd Okino leads by two strokes over Kelli Oride and Katie Kempter, who stand in the way of her fourth consecutive title, which would break the record she shares with Christel Tomori.

"I'm not going to think about that. I'm just going to think about my own game," said Okino, who shot 74—144.

Overtaking Okino is "doable," according to both Oride, a Kaua'i High School junior, and Kempter, a University of Denver graduate who just earned her LPGA Tour card. "I like the chase. I'm just going to have fun tomorrow and see what happens," said Kempter, whose 71 was the only subpar round among the women yesterday.

Both the seniors and women play the Palmer Course today.

Bill Kwon can be reached at billkwonrhs@aol.com