Golf: Hanson steals the lead at Masters

Peter Hanson, of Sweden, salutes the gallery as he walks up to the 18th green during the Masters golf tournament. Photo / AP

Swede Peter Hanson stole the lead, Phil Mickelson made a trademark Augusta charge and Australia's hopes floundered in the third round of the Masters.

Despite starting with a bogey, Hanson threw up an impressive seven-under par 65 to move to nine-under par for the tournament, one clear of American Mickelson and South African Louis Oosthuzen.

Three-time Masters champion Mickelson set the back nine alight with a six-under 30 helping him to a 66 and an eight under total where he was joined by the 2010 British Open champion Oosthuizen who carded a 68.

While the roars were many and deserved, perhaps the biggest came at the 15th when Mickelson played a ridiculously risky flop shot from behind the green and then made a putt for birdie to continue his charge.

American Bubba Watson (70) is fourth at six under par while countryman Matt Kuchar (70) is fifth at five under.

"I think it's going to be a very challenging day tomorrow," said Hanson, who will play in the final group with Mickelson.

"It's going to be a long night and a long morning tomorrow."

Mickelson is gunning for a fourth green jacket which would tie Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods and only trail Jack Nicklaus (six).

Despite being tied fifth after five holes on Saturday, Aaron Baddeley crashed to a 77 and a tie for 38th at three-over par, leaving Geoff Ogilvy as the leading Australian at one-over in a tie for 27th.

But being 10 strokes back basically solidifies another year without a green jacket for Australia, taking the winless streak to 76 attempts.

Baddeley made a nice 10-foot birdie putt on the second before the fifth hole looked to get the better of him.

After a triple bogey on the hole on Friday Baddeley appeared headed for another big number when his 10 metre birdie putt up a huge ridge with a double break was short and rolled all the way back to his feet.

Faced with the same monumental task, Baddeley found his mojo and holed out for a miracle par.

But his luck left him off the tee at six where he left the ball on the right fringe in an impossible place, forcing him to face away from the hole and use the entire green contour to get the ball to 13-feet from the pin.

The 31-year-old missed the par save and then cut his tee shot on the seventh into a tree, leading to another bogey.

A further dropped shot at the 11th had the Victorian in trouble but a magic eagle at the 13th once again had him back in the mix.

Sadly he dropped five shots over the last five holes with two double bogeys and another bogey to throw away his chances.

"I eagled 13 and right there I'm still in it just four back at the time and need a good finish but I just messed it up," a dejected Baddeley said.

"I was there. I didn't hit a good tee shot on 14 but I still had a shot and then missed it long left where you shouldn't really miss it and then messed it up from there - simple. My chip ran away and I three-putted.

"What do you do? I am just going to try to shoot a low score tomorrow, that's it, what else can you do."

Adam Scott, the only other remaining Australian finished at two-over in a tie for 32nd while Tiger Woods (72) joined Baddeley at three-over.

-AAP