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Rose takes lead and confidence into Masters final day

Augusta - England's Justin Rose takes a lot of confidence as well as a share of the lead into Sunday's final round of the Masters.

Rose, the Rio Olympic champion and 2013 US Open winner, rattled up six birdies over the last 11 holes of his third round on Saturday to seize the lead alongside Spain's Sergio Garcia.

"I'm in a great position going into tomorrow," said the 37-year-old Rose after carding a five-under par 67, the day's lowest score.

"I feel I've played really well all week but now things have finally begun to click and I'm having my run."

Rose, in his 12th Masters, hit 71 and 72 on Thursday and Friday for a one-under total of 143 to share fourth. He was one of few players to limit the damage caused by blustery weather that turned sunny and calm Saturday.

"It was beautiful out there today," he said. "The course was in magnificent shape, and it was there for the taking in the sense that if you played great golf, you were rewarded, but still had enough teeth that if you weren't on your game, it was going to get you."

Rose said he had to be patient on the first nine holes and had a discussion with caddie Mark Fulcher about how the rewards would come after he dropped a shot on the par-three sixth hole and was making no inroads on the leaders.

"Fooch and I, we physically talked about that out there. We kind of knew that we were being tested at that point in the tournament," he said.

"We were playing well, but we weren't really making inroads towards the lead, and chose to stay patient, because that's the only choice that we really have, and it kind of paid off.

"This course offers you that. It offers you a run around the par-5s. I took advantage of the par 5s -- 8, 13, 15 --? and stole a couple more. It was a very solid round and then obviously finishing birdie-birdie just kind of put the cherry on top of what was a good day."

Rose will be in the last duo out Sunday at 2:45 pm (1845 GMT) with Garcia just after Rickie Fowler and 2015 Masters winner Jordan Spieth, who climbed up the leaderboard with a 68.

Rose shared second behind Spieth in 2015 and said he was comfortable in the lead and looking forward to the last round.

"I take a lot of confidence from the fact that I played in the final group with Jordan in 2015 and played well," he said.

"So I take confidence that I've put four great rounds together here in the past, too, and I enjoyed that occasion and I enjoyed the occasion of playing in the final group yesterday as well."

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