A day's best round of 67, five under par, from England's Justin Rose, and a two-under 70 from 36-hole co-leader Sergio Garcia of Spain saw the lead move out to six under par after 54 holes. The lead pairing will tee off at 7:45pm Irish time on Sunday with Garcia bidding to finally win a major in his 74th start, and on the day his compatriot and hero, the late Seve Ballesteros would have celebrated his 60th birthday.

With Rickie Fowler, another of the four halfway co-leaders, posting a 71 to get to five under and 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth moving into contention on four under with a 68, the final day of the first major of 2017 looks set to be an intriguing battle of golf's heavyweights that Irishman McIlroy will be desperate to get amongst. Yet the four-time major champion, playing his ninth Masters, is acutely aware of the size of the challenge he faces.

The 27-year-old was speaking after a third round which saw him struggle to get any momentum going on a day he had hoped to make his move up the leaderboard. Three front-nine birdies were negated by a bogey at the par-four fifth and a double at the par-four two holes later, while just one birdie broke a sequence of pars on his back nine.

“My best score round here is 65 and I’m going to need something like that if not lower to have a chance tomorrow,” McIlroy said on Saturday night. “I’ll be able to tell you better tomorrow night if I think those missed opportunities have ruined my chances, but I just need to go out and play a good round of golf tomorrow.”

McIlroy had promised after round two not to be too tentative in his third round after caution cost him his shot at glory when playing in the lead pairing with Jordan Spieth at the same stage of the tournament 12 months ago. Yet he is wary of being overly aggressive in the final round.

“You can’t just start to gung-ho it around here and go for shots that aren’t on. You still have to play smart when you have to. I’ll just try to take my chances, birdie the par fives, birdie some of the other holes and try not to make too many mistakes.

“I feel like I play as aggressive as anyone round here. It hasn’t done me much good yet! But it’s one of these courses where you get a bit too aggressive, miss it on the wrong side and you end up not with birdie but with bogey and that gets frustrating.

“The mental side is huge. It’s the most important thing. Even if you aren’t playing well and your head is in the right place you’ll always have a chance. Around this place it is heightened even more because you can hear what is going on around you, if someone has made a birdie or eagle on the back nine. The leaderboard changes and everyone reacts to that so you have to focus on yourself and block it out.”

With 2013 US Open champion Rose and two of the best players in golf not to have won a major yet in Garcia and Fowler, as well as Spieth, whose first three Masters finishes have been second, first, second, there is plenty of quality at the top of the leaderboard and bubbling under.

Ryan Moore's round of 69 moved him alongside Spieth on four under while Charley Hoffman, who led after 18 holes and co-led after 36, fell back to four under with a double bogey at the par-three 16th, settling for a level-par 70.

Adam Scott, the 2013 champion lies in seventh on three under following a 69 with 2011 winner Charl Schwartzel eighth on two under thanks to a third-round 68, one ahead of European Ryder Cup stars Lee Westwood and Thomas Pieters.

History is against McIlroy, who will start his final round in a tie for 11th and playing alongside Matt Kuchar for the second successive day, teeing off at 6:45pm Irish time. The only Masters champion who was not inside the top 10 on the leaderboard after 54 holes was Art Wall Jr. In 1959, who came from a tie for 13th.