The Masters: Stage set for Sunday shootout

Day three leaderboard

-6 Rose, Garcia
-5 Fowler
-4 Spieth, Moore, Hoffman
-3 Scott
-2 Schwartzel
-1 Westwood, Pieters

Day three report

Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia share the lead in the Masters, with Rickie Fowler and Jordan Spieth close behind heading into the final round. 

Rose burst through the field with a back-nine 31 on Saturday, making birdies at holes 17 and 18 to post the clubhouse lead at six-under.

That total was matched when Garcia made a five-foot par putt at 18, having fought hard all day for a two-under 70 in the final group.

Alongside the Spaniard, Charley Hoffman was two clear at one point midway through the round but a double-bogey at the 16th, where he pulled his tee-shot into water, saw him drop two off the lead.

Instead, it was Spieth who made the biggest move of the home contingent, making five birdies and just one bogey in a four-under 68 to once again get in the mix at Augusta National.

And, perhaps crucially, Spieth will play alongside Fowler in the penultimate two-ball, the latter putting superbly throughout a scrappy round to break par and stay within one of the leading duo and one ahead of his Sunday partner.

Hoffman will play the final round with Ryan Moore, who is also two back after a second successive 69, and before that duo tee-off there will be a pairing of two former champions with Adam Scott three adrift and Charl Schwartzel four.

Lee Westwood and Thomas Pieters complete the group of 10 players who are under-par, both five off the lead, and will play alongside each other as they did on day one of the Ryder Cup last year.

Rory McIlroy made two birdies in his first three holes to close on the leaders, but his progress was halted by a three-putt bogey at the fifth before a three-putt double at the seventh.

The four-time major champion recovered to level with birdies at eight and 12, but will have been frustrated not to capitalise on good drives at holes 13 and 15, as he parred his way home for a one-under 71 which leaves him level par and six adrift. 

Alongside McIlroy are Matt Kuchar, Soren Kjeldsen, Paul Casey, William McGirt and Jon Rahm, but with such quality at the top of the leaderboard they may be too far back ahead of what promises to be a thrilling Sunday.

Garcia, of course, goes into the final round as underdog to Rose, given that the Englishman has won a major championship before, but victory for the Spaniard would carry extra poignancy given that Sunday would have been the 60th birthday of Seve Ballesteros, whose final major appearance came here 10 years ago.

"It would be amazing, something difficult to describe, but we still have one day to go," said Garcia.

"It was a good day. I didn't feel particularly well or comfortable with my set-up early on, even on the range, but I found something and I worked with that and tried to make sure I stayed as consisent as possible.

"I couldn't be as aggressive as I would have liked if I was firing on all cylinders but I was able to fight hard with what I had and managed to shoot a good two-under."

Whether Garcia can finally win his first major at the 74th attempt remains to be seen and in Rose he faces one of the toughest competitors in golf, one whose comfort at Augusta is made clear by the fact that this is his 12th visit, and never once has he missed the cut.

"This is a place I dearly love and would love to be part of the history here," said 36-year-old Rose, who was joint-second behind Spieth in 2015. "Tomorrow is a huge day. I have an opportunity and that's all that you want, but it all starts on the back nine."

Spieth, meanwhile, was understandably delighted to move onto the heels of the leaders, having been 10 adrift of Hoffman after round one.

"After contending on Sunday for a few years in a row you normally don't need as low as you think," he said. "Something like today's round and maybe finish it off a little better and it might be enough."

Spieth is surely right - another 68, for eight-under, would be a difficult total to pass. And, with Sunday's pins traditionally in accessible positions, it seems likely that one of the final five groups will produce the fireworks required.

That there are so many candidates guarantees another thrilling conclusion to the season's opening major.

Round three collated scores

USA unless stated; par 72

210 Justin Rose (Eng) 71 72 67, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 71 69 70

211 Rickie Fowler 73 67 71

212 Charley Hoffman 65 75 72, Ryan Moore 74 69 69, Jordan Spieth 75 69 68

213 Adam Scott (Aus) 75 69 69

214 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 74 72 68

215 Thomas Pieters (Bel) 72 68 75, Lee Westwood (Eng) 70 77 68

216 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 73 71, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 72 73 71, Jon Rahm (Spa) 73 70 73, Paul Casey (Eng) 72 75 69, Matt Kuchar 72 73 71, William McGirt 69 73 74

217 Jason Dufner 71 76 70, Jimmy Walker 76 71 70, Kevin Chappell 71 76 70, Fred Couples 73 70 74

218 Phil Mickelson 71 73 74, Brooks Koepka 74 73 71, Pat Perez 74 74 70, Bill Haas 75 72 71, Russell Henley 71 76 71, Brandt Snedeker 75 74 69

219 Jason Day (Aus) 74 76 69

220 Steve Stricker 75 73 72, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 76 70 74, Justin Thomas 73 76 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 78 68 74

221 Brian Stuard 77 70 74, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 78 72 71, Stewart Hagestad (a) 74 73 74, Branden Grace (Rsa) 76 74 71

222 Brendan Steele 74 73 75, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 79 70 73, Daniel Berger 77 73 72, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 71 78 73

223 J.B. Holmes 78 72 73, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 76 73 74, Kevin Kisner 74 75 74

224 Ross Fisher (Eng) 76 74 74, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 77 71 76, Adam Hadwin (Can) 75 74 75, Daniel Summerhays 74 75 75

225 Andrew Sullivan (Eng) 71 78 76, Marc Leishman (Aus) 73 74 78, James Hahn 75 75 75, Curtis Luck (a) (Aus) 78 72 75, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 77 72 76

229 Larry Mize 74 76 79

230 Ernie Els (Rsa) 72 75 83