But Rose started a run of three straight birdies at the sixth to quickly erase the deficit. But birdies on the two par fives on the back nine allowed him to shoot a 71, leaving him at five under. Rickie Fowler. Jordan Spieth. 2015 champion Jordan Spieth shot a tremendous 68, which included five birdies.
Adam Scott, the 2013 champion, is another leading contender after moving to three under for the tournament with a 69, but Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson - a three-time champion - seemingly have too much to do at level par and two over respectively.
He was some 40 feet short and ran the first putt 10 feet by.
Further birdies on the eighth and 12th provided hope, but he could not add any more to close the gap on the leaders. He is alone in third place at 5-under.
Instead of reveling in who was playing at Augusta National, the focus was on the people not there. Rose has one major title to his name, that being the 2013 U.S. Open. Garcia is a longtime star but still seeking his first major championship.
It was a slice of redemption, and for Sunday's final round Spieth, who sits tied for fourth, will be paired with Rickie Fowler, a fellow member of the #SB2K16 crew (a highly-publicized, via Snapchat, holiday of Spieth, Fowler, Justin Thomas and Smylie Kaufman in the Bahamas), but this time, there's a little more on the line than just the next round of tequila.
Sunday is a big day for William McGirt, who has remained among the leaders for three days.
Ernie Els will play with a marker today in what could be his final round at the Masters. That might not be enough if the flags are accessible and birdies prove easy to come by for the rest of the field.
Hoffman has largely struggled since opening the Masters with an impressive seven-under 65 in the first round, which doesn't inspire confidence in his chances of continuing to contend into the final round.
Jordan Spieth continued to turn Augusta National into his home court Saturday, even though he tripped over a few loose boards on Thursday.
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This is the final year of automatic eligibility for the 47-year-old Els, and given his age and state of his game, he knows it will be tough to earn his way back. He was so confident, in fact, that he was one of the last players to register for the tournament. "We'll see, unless we do something down the road". The only thing you know about the result: It's going to be ugly. Whatever. If I come back again, great.
"I went to bed with my heart pumping faster last night because of (Friday's) round than I probably will tonight, because I already knew I had a chance", he said. It's hard to say whether Spieth was trying to tap into that "go-for-it" spirit, or as he hinted afterward, just looking for a way to convince Greller that it was the right play at the right time. His countryman Danny Willett won the Masters a year ago.
Brendan Steele had the hottest start at the Masters on Sunday.
Rose's putting was one of the biggest reasons for his climbing into a tie for first place. Missing numerous birdie chances on the front nine, the Spaniard shot four birdies and two bogeys to maintain his spot at the top of the leaderboard.
If you are into a Renaissance of English golfers, then Rose is your man.
But here we are, early in Spieth's career and late in this Masters, being forced to consider whether a relative novice is becoming the foremost Augusta expert. He died in 2011 at 54.
He summed up his rundown saying, "There's wonderful storylines".
Justin Rose of England, who has captured one major title and another that felt like it, put himself in position for his first Green Jacket on Saturday.
In 2015, Spieth won in record-setting fashion, and unless you've been living in a cave for the past 12 months you know that he was on his way to repeating a year ago before making a quadruple bogey at the par-3 12th in the final round.
Garcia's pivotal holes were a stunning 38-foot birdie putt at No. 5, which had three-putt written all over it; a huge break when his second shot into the par-5 13th green was heading for a tributary of Rae's Creek, only to have the ball hang up on the steep bank (he chipped on and made the birdie putt) and then at No. 18 when an indifferent iron shot left him with a 58-foot putt.
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