Masters 2017: Live results and news from Saturday at Augusta National

Jordan Spieth will likely never play the 12th or 15th holes at Augusta without TV broadcasters playing and replaying the quadruple-bogeys he posted on those holes in 2016 and 2017, respectively. No sweat for the 2015 Masters winner, who made par on 12 in Saturday’s third round after missing way left with his tee shot, but absolutely blistered the 15th with the shot of the day from 100 yards out.

When Phil Mickelson got off to a birdie-birdie start to Spieth’s two pars in Saturday’s third round of the Masters, it looked as if the 46-year-old was going to make a serious move on moving day at Augusta National.

The 54-hole lead at the Masters belongs to Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia. The Englishman and the Spaniard mounted Saturday charges and passed up Charley Hoffman for the lead down the stretch. Rose has one major championship to his name, a U.S. Open, while Garcia is still striving for his first one.

Hoffman led the tournament by four strokes after the first round and was tied for the lead after the second. He emerged alone again for much of Saturday’s round, but Hoffman declined on the back nine and lost his leading position for Sunday. Hoffman nonetheless remains in solid contention, as do many others.

Justin Rose might enter the final round at the Masters in first place. Rose finished his Saturday round at 6 strokes under par for the tournament, by shooting a 5-under 67 on Saturday, moving day. American Charley Hoffman was still on the course and tied with Rose when the Englishman finished his round.

Rose will be a force on Sunday, no matter how the board settles on Saturday. He’s the 14th-ranked player in the world for a reason, and he’s got loads of major experience. Rose won the U.S. Open in 2013, and he’s finished top-five at every other leg of the career grand slam. Rose plays a consistent, level-headed game and isn’t likely to decline much on Sunday.

The Masters moves to its third round on Saturday. Golf’s “tradition unlike any other” is set up for an exciting final two days, as the weather at Augusta National Golf Club is expected to clear up after heavy winds complicated Thursday’s and Friday’s rounds.

The leaderboard is tight at the top, with the kind of parity that tends to lead to dramatic finishes on Sundays. Players from every level of the World Golf Ranking have nonzero chances to win the green jacket. Nobody’s come close to running away, although improving conditions might allow for some lower scores going forward.

For Rory McIlroy, Augusta National always seems to take as much as it gives. The balance always seems to end up at zero and he can never quite sneak out of here after a week feeling like he got away with one or got the best of it. Even the pins are keeping account and Friday’s round was a tale of two flagsticks.

In the second round, his Masters seemed to take off at the 6th hole. He’d been uneven throughout the start of his round, getting a great look at eagle at the par-5 second and then inexplicably three-jacking the short third hole in some gusty winds that seemed to impact him more with the putter. After an all-world birdie from the pine straw at the 5th, McIlroy came to the 6th at even-par. He hit a solid tee shot that got an unfortunate bounce off the fringe and spun back down one of Augusta’s most significantly sloped greens. He was inches from having a great look at birdie to now having to make a hit-and-hope attempt to get up the steep grade without hammering it too far past the hole on these rapid greens.