Rose, Garcia tied for Masters lead after third round

He made his eagle putt, closing the gap after Rose had kicked two shots clear.

Palmer died last September but his presence has been felt everywhere at Augusta National.

"It's going to be fun", Fowler said.

"Jose sent me a lovely message on Wednesday night, and you know, he has a good touch when it comes down to those things". In fact, no hole has been tougher than the first, which played into the gusty wind the first two rounds. American William McGirt and South Africa's Charl Schwartzel were on two-under. The ensuing double bogey dropped him out of the lead and he finished his round at 4-under.

The Globe's most recent sports headlines delivered to your inbox every morning. Mickelson went on to three more bogeys for a front side 39 and could not get much going the rest of the way to finish with a 2-over 74. Spieth's tee shot found the water, leading to a double-bogey and dropping him even further behind the lead pack. Those five birdie putts only took up 47 feet for the 2013 U.S. Open champion and the 2016 Olympic gold medalist. Justin Rose's third strike is better landing on the green. Absent those two big numbers, Spieth would be in great shape for a charge toward his third straight green jacket.

Spieth thought distance control was his undoing in the final round. Sergio's 8 iron on the 15th hole was the shot that really got his challenge going. I wasn't quite good enough.

"A one-shot lead starting the day doesn't mean much", Rose said. He is the only player to shoot under par in all three rounds.

The four-time major victor scrambled an excellent par at seven before picking up another shot at the long eighth, but a run of four pars effectively ended any realistic hopes of pressuring the leaders. "So I'm certainly going to go for broke tomorrow".

Rose and Spieth were the biggest beneficiaries on a "moving day" that lived up to its name, the former hitting the low round of 67 to join Garcia on six under, while Spieth's 68 moved him to within two of top spot.

The American, who is yet to win a major title, was one over through 10 but also birdied the back-nine par fives to remain firmly in the hunt.

"I've been in the lead for 36 holes and more than that, nearly all of today", he said, still smiling after the third round.

"Olazabal sent me a very nice message in which he told me that he loved me and that I should have a lot of confidence in myself". "I'm two back, I've been playing good golf and I'm really happy with where I'm at". "It feels like I'm right where I'm supposed to be". A combined score of -7 between Friday and Saturday at least gave Spieth a small chance, but the pair of 75s from Round 1 and 4 were too much to overcome.

The 36-year-old has claimed four top-10 finishes in 11 previous starts at the year's opening golf major and has now given himself a real chance of following Danny Willett as the second Briton in succession to claim a prestigious green jacket.

"We kind of knew that we were being tested at that point in the tournament", he said.

The four leaders - Charley Hoffman, Sergio Garcia, Rickie Fowler and Thomas Peters - will tee off in about four hours on what looks like a great day for golf.

"I'm here with so much just started".