Rose surged to the top of the leader board at Augusta National Golf Club Saturday with five birdies in his final seven holes, putting him in position to win a second major title to go with the Olympic gold medal he won last summer. "When you've got that many world-class guys ahead of me, you can't give Sergio (Garcia), (Justin) Rose and all these guys a six-shot lead, five-shot lead, four-shot lead".

Rose and Garcia will go off in the final pairing Sunday. Yet the four-time major champion, playing his ninth Masters, is acutely aware of the size of the challenge he faces.

"We wanted to shoot four under and thought if we did the lead would move to six or seven and I'd creep on it", said the 2015 champion, who is bidding to become the youngest two-time Masters victor. I think the main thing that has improved is the way I'm looking at it the last two or three years.

If you are into sentiment or karma, then Garcia is your man. Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of the birth of Seve Ballesteros, the greatest golfer from Garcia's native Spain and a two-time Masters victor. "Everyone has a story line".

Rose, the Rio Olympic champion and 2013 US Open victor, rattled up six birdies over the last 11 holes of his third round on Saturday to seize the lead alongside Spain's Sergio Garcia.

Spieth desperately wants to put the horrors of last year's Masters Sunday behind him, or at least the horrors of having to answer questions about it. "Distance control is so key here and I was two yards into the rough so many times today and it makes a huge difference on controlling the distance out of the rough". Garcia has been the most consistent player of the tournament.

Garcia and Rose began the day as co-leaders and with nine holes to play in year's first major were at eight under par, still deadlocked after contrasting starts.

But neither had the round they envisioned, with Spieth carding a 3-over 75 and Fowler closing with 4-over 76.

Rose had the round of the day with a 5-under-par 67. And hit a good shot into 10, which I rarely do. "It's always fun when you're playing with one of your good buddies". And he threw away a five-shot lead on the back nine previous year for another runner-up finish.

Jordan Spieth is in title contention for a fourth consecutive year at the Masters.

"Hopefully he will help me a little bit", Garcia said. There wasn't going to be a lot I could have done today.

Garcia, who once complained the golf gods conspired against him when he lost a playoff in the 2012 British Open, had the gods on his side Saturday in Amen Corner.

"Felt good going to the back nine, felt I was going to get plenty of opportunities with a couple of pins and par-5s", said Fowler. This is a place I dearly love to be part of history here. "So you've just got to roll with it and realize that sometimes you're going to get good breaks, like has happened to me a few times this week, and sometimes you're going to get not so good breaks".

"At the end of the day, it comes down to myself", Garcia said.

Thomas Pieters, who along with Hoffman, Fowler and Garcia shared the 36-hole lead, shot 75 to fall five off the lead. Then he bogeyed the 14th and put his tee shot in the water on No. 16 for a double bogey.

"You still have to be patient, you can't really try to get too much out of this golf course", Fowler said.

He believes it will be a thinking-man's game Sunday, particularly on the back nine.