World number one Scottie Scheffler leads the Masters by a shot after three rounds, but the drama is all around him after a wind-affected day at Augusta National.

There is a fierce finish in prospect in the final 18 holes tomorrow morning (Australian time), with Cam Davis five shots off the lead in a share of sixth, and Cameron Smith one shot back in equal ninth.

The third round is traditionally known as 'moving day', when players at the top take charge, or those down the leaderboard make a charge.

On Saturday, a number of the leading contenders came to grief at various holes on the back nine, as no one made a decisive break.

The drama continued right to the end of the round.

Big-hitting Californian Bryson DeChambeau's short game deserted him for much of the day.

He started round three in a share of the lead at 6-under, but after missed putts and problems with water hazards, he was on 2-under going up the last.

In trouble off the tee, DeChambeau was out in the fairway playing his third to the par-four, needing a solid up and down from more than 100 metres to avoid going further behind.

He hit a high wedge that landed near the back of the green, took one bounce and then spun backwards into the hole for a chip-in birdie, setting off a huge reaction in the greenside gallery.

DeChambeau's big finish saw him four shots back from sole leader Scheffler. The world number one was as high as 8-under and as low as 4-under in an up-and-down round, before he finished birdie-bogey to be 7-under going into the final day.

Collin Morikawa made his move early before stringing together 11 straight pars from the eighth for a 3-under round of 69 to be one shot back from Scheffler.

Max Homa is on 5-under in third, while Sweden's Ludvig Åberg — a former world amateur number one who is making his Masters and major championship debut — will start the final round three shots back in fourth spot. DeChambeau rounds out the top five.

Davis will rue a crushing 45-minute stretch that sent the Sydneysider spiralling from 5-under to 1-under after storming to within two shots of the lead.

Australia's big halfway hope leaked the four shots in the first four holes of a horror start to the back nine.

After surging up the leaderboard with three front-nine birdies, Davis staggered around the most treacherous pocket in world golf after one bad swing on the 10th.

He had to chip out from the trees after a wayward drive, then fired his approach over the back of the green before taking three more shots for a dreaded double-bogey six.

He compounded the error with a bogey on the 11th, then shaved the lip with a short birdie putt on 12 and dropped another shot after dunking his ball into Rae's Creek on the 13th.

Suddenly, Davis had tumbled back to 1-under, six shots adrift of the lead.

He steadied with a bounce-back birdie on the par-4 14th before finishing with four straight pars, including a brilliant up and down from the drop zone after again finding the water on 15.

Davis is sharing sixth spot with American Xander Schauffele and Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard.

Of the other Australians, Adam Scott took advantage of his survival to the weekend thanks to the 6-over cut. Scott posted a 70, shooting the last three holes in 2-under to finish at 4-over the card.

It was a tougher round for Min Woo Lee and Jason Day. The pair started the day at 4-over, but Lee's round of 75 left him on 7-over, while Day posted a 4-over 76 to be 8-over going into the final round.

ABC/AAP