Spieth surges into storyline with relentless third-round 68 at the Masters

The normally steady Hoffman, who led by two early midway through the second nine, dropped three shots to par in the final five holes Saturday, opening a door that England’s Justin Rose and Spain’s Sergio Garcia quickly walked through.

Spieth’s in the middle of his fourth straight Masters in which he played Sunday in one of the final two groups, and his cumulative score over that stretch is more than a dozen shots lower than anyone else in the field – despite the quadruple-bogey on Thursday this year and his quad meltdown on the 12th on Sunday last year.

It was a miserable day for four-times major champion Ernie Els, who was seeking his first Masters title at the age of 47.

For all that happened atop the Masters leader board, it was one name just down the list that attracted most of the attention Saturday at Augusta National. The duo are five shots of the lead, and have an outside shot of winning the green jacket.

Sergio Garcia has a share of the lead after three rounds at the Masters.

“The galleries here are always great”, Fowler said. The lead pairing will tee off at 7:45pm Irish time on Sunday with Garcia bidding to finally win a major in his 74th start, and on the day his compatriot and hero, the late Seve Ballesteros would have celebrated his 60th birthday.

Rose could use another back nine like he had in the third round. Spieth could punch out and lay up, leaving a wedge shot that he’d have to execute perfectly to secure a birdie.

Rose had the round of the day with a 5-under-par 67. Just his luck, the ball bounced softly off the bank and stayed up, and from there the Spaniard hit a tough chip to tap-in range to turn potential bogey into a birdie.

“I knew I needed to get going for sure.

We need one more day of it”, Spieth said. He missed the green on No. 6 and did the same for another bogey, and he failed to take advantage of the par-5 8th by making par.

“Should be a great match-up in the last group”, Garcia said. “But every time I chipped it close I missed the putt or I didn’t chip it close enough and I’d still miss the putt”, said Fowler.

Meanwhile, Australians Marc Leishman fired a 71 and world No.1 amateur Curtis Luck a 72 to finish their Masters campaigns with respectable rounds. Two holes later, he almost holed a wedge from the 15th fairway.

Jordan Spieth is 4 under through 13 holes to tie for second, two shots behind Hoffman.

The 37-year-old sank a putt on the first extra hole to clinch the title.

Jordan Spieth, however, knows what it feels like to do both.

Charley Hoffman was tied for the lead until he found the water on the par-three 16 hole, leading to two dropped shots – the American is two shots off the pace.

Only 10 players remained under par, all of them separated by five shots.

Garcia’s win comes after 73 failed attempts to win the 81st Masters on his 37th birthday and what would have been the 60th birthday of his idol, two-time Masters champion and three-time (British) Open victor Seve Ballesteros, who died of brain cancer in 2011 at age 54. Lee Westwood, a runner-up previous year, also had a 68 and was five shots back.

Rose’s drive into the trees basically ended things, as he couldn’t save a par after punching out to the fairway. Mickelson, at 2 over, is eight shots behind the co-leaders.