88th Masters: Scottie Scheffler leads by one heading into Sunday

It's set up to be a thrilling final day of the 88th Masters, with a number of players hanging off the coattails of 54-hole leader Scottie Scheffler (-7), after another round where the Augusta National golf gods looked to cause havoc with the top half of the leaderboard.

There was certainly no sand storm generating winds on Saturday, but the wind was still there and although more subtle would intervene to cause trouble. The sun was out and blue skies visible across the course, so whilst patrons basked in the glory of it all, the greens became drier and firmer making approach shots skip through the back and not hold onto the green at all.

Bewildered looks fell upon some of the player's faces as they had to take chips back towards the hole and landing the ball on the green at the attackable pin position on 12 became almost impossible.

It was when Scheffler and playing partner Nicolai Højgaard, in the penultimate group, played the 10th where things got interesting. The World Number one saw his second shot go through the back of the green into the pine straw, he would then take four shots from there after his ball lipped out for bogey. Whilst Scheffler faltered Højgaard birdied and there was a three shot swing.

The Dane's, who could become the first since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 to win in their first appearance, time at the top didn't last long as he would bogey the next five holes and have to settle for a two-over-par 74 and sits in a tied for sixth and two-under-par.

Just before Højgaard went on his bogey run, there was a point where five players were tied for the lead on six-under-par, with fellow first timer Ludvig Åberg making a birdie on the 13th to make up the group.

Åberg in position for Sunday shootout

The Swede sits in a better position than his fellow first timer, in fourth at four-under-par. He was one of 12 players who was able to shoot under par on Saturday but was a little disappointed to drop two coming in on 14 and 15.

There's no doubt that the 24-year-old is looking forward to the challenge on Sunday:

"Obviously I'm a competitor and I want to win tournaments. I feel very fortunate to be in this position and to be here playing golf.

"Yes, I don't think you should shy away from it. I don't think you should try to push it away. I try to embrace it, and I try to be okay with all that comes with it, I guess."

Scheffler would also bogey 14 to drop to four-under-par, a moment where many golf fans were wondering what was happening with the super consistent American. But he isn't the number one player in the world for no reason. He showed his true mental strength and course management skills to par the 12th and when he holed a putt over 30ft for eagle on 13, we saw a rare bit of emotion as he fist pumped as the putt rolled in.

A birdie on 15 would put him back to the top of the leaderboard at seven-under-par, before a bogey, birdie finish would see one final fist pump to take a one shot lead into the final day.

The 27-year-old sits in the same position he held in 2022 before he went on to win his first green jacket. How is he feeling?

"I think I'll have a better understanding of what the morning is like tomorrow. But, yeah, proud of how I played today. It was a good fight out there. The golf course was extremely challenging. The greens were very firm, very fast, and it was extremely difficult again today. So probably looking for more of the same tomorrow."

Who else is in contention?

The go-to golf stats man is Justin Ray and he shared an interesting stat heading into Sunday:

So who is within four shots of the lead?

Two-time Major Champion Collin Morikawa is in second at six-under-par and is the only player to have shot under-par in all three rounds this week. The American had a very consistent third round, with all the action happening on the front nine, birdies on the first three holes, a bogey on six and a final birdie on eight. Considering the conditions and even par back nine was a great achievement and a three-under-par was the second round of the day.

"If you asked me at the beginning of the week I'd be 1 back heading into Sunday, I would have taken that any time. You give yourself a chance with 18 holes left, that's all you can really do and everything that you practice for. It all comes together tomorrow hopefully. But it's going to be a grind, and I'm looking forward to that."

American Max Homa has been really steady and consistent this week, coping well with the very tricky conditions. His third round consisted of just one bogey and 17 pars, how did he feel the round went?

"Hard, very patient. I would say frustrating at times, but also really, really pleased with it. I don't know what more I could have done. Could I have seen some putts go in, but I don't hate how I putt. Started the ball on the line a lot. The greens got really fast. So adjusting to that took a couple holes.

"Just hard to get it close to the hole. Didn't play the par-5s well on the front. Got a funky lie on two. Other than that, I was pretty happy with that."

Homa in search of first Major

Homa is a proven winner but not on the Major stage, with his best performance at The Masters a tied 43rd last year. There does seem to be something about him this week which could push him across the line.

The final player within four shots is Bryson DeChambeau, who potentially had the most colour back nine experience on Saturday. One double bogey, three bogeys, three birdies and two pars to shoot a three-over-par 75 and be four shots back from Scheffler at three-under-par.

"I'm going to look back on this one and try to figure out how to putt well, putt better on these greens and control the speed a little bit more. I haven't been able to use the foresight on the putting green, which is another variable that gets thrown in, which is totally fine. I've got to be able to conquer it. Nobody else is doing it, and they're able to putt just fine."

As the stats show, the winner is usually within four of the leader, so DeChambeau will have his work cut out but three shot swings came easy on Saturday and this is Augusta National after all.

It's time to get the snacks in and get ready to settle in for what we're sure is going to be a box office final round at the 88th Masters.

View the full 88th Masters leaderboard here.