Jordan Spieth said Saturday that he didn't care if he ended in fifth place or 10th place.
A three-way tie for third at four under included world No.8 Rickie Fowler, Englishman Paul Casey and Charl Schwartzel.
Garcia hung his head in the 13th fairway when his 4-iron shot disappeared off a bank toward the tributary of Rae's Creek. "He deserves it", Rose said.
He was first off the tee on Saturday and was joined by an Augusta National club member to help him keep pace around the course after 53 golfers made the cut and players are sent off in groups of two on the weekend.
Rose, who had the day's low round with 5-under-par 67, shares the lead with Garcia (70). I'm a major champion, but I'm looking for more. Open, 2013), but I'm looking for more and I'm certainly looking for my first Masters and my first green jacket. Sergio Garcia received the kind of break that allowed him to wonder whether the golfing gods are finally on his side after all these years.
Now he's in a six-way tie for 11th place on 216 and will need something exceptional to challenge for the title against England's Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia of Spain.
The playoff began on the 18th hole.
"We've put a lot of work in", Fowler said, "and it's nice to see it pay off". There are wonderful story lines in a major championship.
"The galleries here are always great", Fowler said. But Garcia can't take advantage also missing his shot at claiming his first ever major. Mickelson's rise ended there.
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The gold medals went to Italy's Rachele Barbieri, with Elinor Barker (GB) and Jolien d'Hoore (Belgium) taking silver and bronze. Jason Kenny's wife Laura Kenny (nee Trott) is also absent from Hong Kong , pregnant with the couple's first child.
Riding the crest of a wave, McIlroy almost nailed a hole-in-one on the short 16th but a tap-in birdie brought him back to level par. - Jason Day, who played with Augusta National member Jeff Knox because he was the first player off Saturday morning and is not allowed to play alone.
Phil Mickelson started out birdie-birdie before his round fell apart with a chunked wedge on No. 3 that led to double bogey.
Jordan Spieth reacts to a missed putt on the 15th hole during the second round of the Masters golf tournament Friday, April 7, 2017, in Augusta, Ga. If he had made a bogey instead of a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 15th Thursday, he would be leading by one stroke.
In ideal conditions after buffeting winds the first two days, Garcia - the only player to open with two sub-par rounds - sank a pressure six-foot par putt at the par-3 sixth and made a five-footer for bogey at seven. He hit a first-round 65 in 2011 and a final-round 66 in 2015.
Fowler floundered early, finishing the 10th hole at 1 over for the day.
On the 20th anniversary of Tiger Woods' record-setting victory, which he led by nine shots after three rounds and turned the final round into a formality, this isn't expected to be a runaway.
Fowler was part of a four-way tie for the lead when the third round started Saturday.
PAST CHAMPS HOVERING: Justin Rose and Jordan Spieth aren't the only past Masters winners hanging close to the top.
That includes 2013 victor Adam Scott, alone in seventh place at 3 under, and 2011 victor Charl Schwartzel, who's another stroke back in eighth. He bogeyed the par-three fourth, exposing again his Achilles' heel of 2016 and though he completed a sweep of birdies on the four par fives, without dropping further shots to move to three under, McIlroy's ambitions were put on hold for at least another 12 months.
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