He didn't need any help deciding.

``It was a pretty easy choice, really,'' said Duval, who braved 52-degree temperatures and wind gusts exceeding 40 miles per hour at the Masters. ``I was not going to play any longer than I was required to.''

The 28-year-old Duval, who began the day atop the leaderboard at 6-under par, left the truncated third round behind Vijay Singh (7-under) and will resume play today at 4-under.

Duval and Singh are one of the four pairings whose rounds will be completed today starting at 8:15 a.m.

``I'm hoping I might get three holes of golf without much wind,'' said Duval, a former four-time All-American at Georgia Tech.

Duval, the world's No. 2-ranked player, who has been winless for more than a year, streaked to a bogey-free round Friday but wasn't nearly as successful in the face of the wretched elements Saturday.

Singh moved atop the leaderboard when Duval bogeyed the par-4, 350-yard third, and the two went the next four holes deadlocked until Singh birdied No. 8 and made the turn a stroke ahead at 6-under.

After Singh bogeyed No. 11 to even things up, Duval suffered a meltdown on the par-3, 155-yard 12th when the wind pitched his tee shot into Rae's Creek, leaving him with a double bogey.

``I really wish that I hadn't had what happened on the 12th hole happen, obviously,'' said Duval, who shot a 73 in the opening round and passed 24 players with his 65 Friday. ``With the exception of the bad break on 12, I would be even par for the day.''

He followed that with a birdie on No. 13, but his tee shot on No. 14 sailed into a difficult lie in pine straw at the base of an Augusta pine.

His next shot reached the green but was short and rolled off the front.

He chipped to within a foot and saved par.

``Under the circumstances, I feel like I've played exceptionally well,'' Duval said.