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

Top players like Australia’s Jason Day, who just made the cut, and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, on one over 145, were made to suffer in the blustery conditions in which Pieters said even poor scores were respectable.

Rose has a share of the 54-hole lead for the first time in a major.

The group tied at 4 under through two rounds includes Charley Hoffman, Sergio Garcia, Thomas Pieters and Rickie Fowler. McIlroy is even par for the day but one-over par overall, while Mickelson has gone backwards.

Rose is one of four previous major winners in the top 10 going into Sunday’s final round, which will be live and uninterrupted on BBC Two from 19:00 BST. Spieth went without a bogey for 29 straight holes on Friday and Saturday, hitting nine birdies in the process. The idea of Mickelson winning a fourth Masters at age 46 was fun while it lasted.

Australia’s Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters champion, fired four birdies on a bogey-free front nine to reach one-under, while American Ryan Moore fired a 69 to reach the clubhouse on 143.

“The key was staying patient early in the round after I saw others getting off to good starts”, he told BBC Sport. “Everything clicked into gear”, said Rose. He is prepared to mix patience with aggressiveness during what figures to be a shootout on Sunday. “We made a decision to be patient with it and even though it doesn’t always work, it did today”.

Belgium s Pieters, trying to become the first Masters debutante since 1979 to win the green jacket, eagled the par-5 13th and opened with his lone bogey, shot 68.

And the 23-year-old Texan, who has finished second, first and tied second in his three Augusta appearances, put himself in the frame again with a nerveless third-round display.

Jordan Spieth is now ominously poised behind the front-runners, as the American continues to produce a remarkable recovery after ending the first day of play 10 shots off the lead.

For Spieth, who has entered Sunday with the lead the last two years, and closed the deal once and very much did not the second time, this will mark a new experience.

The reigning Olympic champion and 2013 US Open victor, who shared second-place honours at Augusta in 2015, hit a dazzling second-nine 31 en route to a third-round 5-under-par 67 that left him on 6-under for the tournament.

“After the first round, I couldn’t ask for much better than this”, said Spieth, who has improved each day with rounds of 75-69-68. The fewest number of players to stand below par, three, was in 2007 and the largest number under par after the second round was 36 in 2011.

But Westwood reckons he might have half a chance of still winning to bring an end to his long wait for a Major title.

Phil Mickelson, playing with Spieth, shook up the grounds with a birdie-birdie start, but then double-bogeyed the third and watched the air leave the balloon.

“I haven’t hit it my best this week, but I know we can pull out our best stuff tomorrow”, said Fowler, whose birdies on Saturday came on the four par-5s. And for those counting, he’s played 74 majors without a win.

Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion, has not finished worse than a tie for second in three starts. It appeared to plunk into Rae’s Creek but clung to the far bank, allowing him to chip it inches from the pin for a tap-in birdie. “I’m kind of nervous because I don’t want to let my marker beat me”. The 2013 U.S. Open champion and European Ryder Cup hero could have shot the low round each of the first two days but his game just wouldn’t fire on all cylinders. “And if I can shoot 66 or 65, that’s really possible out there, it’ll give me a chance”.