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AUGUSTA, Ga. -- In four of the 24 spins Jordan Spieth has now taken around the sun, he has played in the final one of the final two pairings on Sunday afternoon at the Masters. That’s over 15 percent of his first full weeks in April that have ended in a loop around Augusta National with a legitimate chance to win the most famous golf tournament on this planet.

Spieth shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to run up the leaderboard and get within two of the 54-hole lead shared by Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose at 6 under. On Sunday, Spieth will be paired with Rickie Fowler, who is just one back at 5 under. He got to that penultimate pairing this time in the most improbable of ways. 

Spieth has, in his short career, been a frontrunner at this event. Coming into this year’s Masters, he had led or co-led after eight of the 12 rounds he played. He has been inside the top five now after 12 of his 15 rounds here. Spieth is not used to playing from behind.

That has not been the case this time around. Spieth made a quadruple-bogey on Thursday on the 15th hole and shot 75. He was 10 back of the lead after 18 holes. But after a 69-68 in his next two rounds, Spieth has emerged from the ashes of that quad with a real chance at major championship No. 3 on Sunday.

“After the first round, I couldn’t ask for much better than this,” said Spieth on Saturday evening. “You know, we fought back tremendously to have a chance to win this golf tournament, and no matter what happens at the end, we will have a chance to win with a really good round tomorrow.

“I knew if I could work my way somehow back to close to par in that second round, I know that I can shoot 10 under over two rounds because we’ve done it before. It’s very difficult to do.”

Spieth’s had the freedom to let it ride a little bit, though, because at 4 over par through 25 holes of this event, he was nearing the cut line. Then came the birdie festival over the final 11 holes on Friday.

“I mean, may as well swing freely, play with confidence,” said Spieth. “Just stay present. Not giving ‑‑ you know, I can’t really say it in here, but I think you know what I’m saying; about much of anything this week and just freeing me up. It’s been a really good mentality for me and I felt more comfortable.” 

If he does in fact win, Spieth would become the first golfer in nearly 120 years to come back from 10 or more down after the first 18 holes and win a major championship. 

It would also be the biggest 54-hole comeback in Masters history ... by three strokes. 

After closing in a flurry with that 33 on the second nine in a Friday round he called more important than his Saturday traipse around the National, Spieth opened with another 33 on the first nine in Round 3. 

He made his first birdie of the day on No. 6 with a 40-foot putt that never left the center of the cup. He raised his Scotty Cameron to the sky and let the wave of roars wash over him. 

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On the next hole, he hit it in the junk off to the right with zero play at the green. What ensued was an incredible conversation between Spieth and caddie Michael Greller. Spieth would not be talked into the club selection Greller wanted. “Absolutely not, buddy,” Spieth told Greller at one point. 

He deliberated for what felt like forever before hitting a running cut through a thicket of pine needles right up the on-ramp towards the pin. It was an impossible shot. Spieth hopped out of the second cut to watch it chase, looked at the green and exclaimed, “Oh my God,” to nobody inparticular. Greller just grinned.

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He followed that with birdies at Nos. 8 and 9 after hitting his second shot close to both pins. The momentum was building. Spieth didn’t make a bogey in the first nine and no other charges were being mounted. It felt like he was assuming control.

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He went to the second nine and made tough pars at Nos. 10 and 12. Then he made a heroic birdie at No. 13 after hitting his drive in the pine straw up the right finger of the hole. Spieth said he had a good 4-iron number to go for the pin. So he compelled caddie Michael Greller, who was advocating they lay up, by invoking the name of Arnold Palmer.

“I hit my favorite shot I’ve ever hit in competition in my life on that hole going for it when we had that decision in 2015,” said Spieth. “So there’s good vibes. I just, you know, ‘What would Arnie do,’ was my way of expressing it to Michael. Which we all know exactly what he would have done. And I’m proud that I pulled that shot off.”

Another birdie came at No. 15 after Spieth yanked his tee shot way right. Spieth asked the CBS cameraman to be lowered from his perch off to the left so he could hit a drawing lay up over the trees in front of the pond on No. 15. The crane was turned on, the engine ticked, and the poor cameraman was slowly lowered nearly to the ground. The truck cradling his crane was on was backed away from the crowd. The message was clear at this point in his round: Get the hell out of Jordan Spieth’s way.

Spieth’s Titleist Vokey scraped the second cut for the lay up. After that he spun one to a couple of feet from roughly the same yardage he had on Thursday when he made the quad. He hit it to tap-in range. His first bogey of the day came at No. 16 when he three-putted. That ended a streak of 29 straight bogey-free holes in which he shot 9-under. Two pars at the last two holes touched off the 68 which was tied for the second-best round of Saturday.

“New experience for me, coming from behind on Sunday at the Masters, which is kind of fun to say,” said Spieth. “We have a great history here. Really, really enjoy playing this golf course, enjoy the imagination that’s necessary.”

Jordan Spieth can’t control everything. He can’t keep Justin Rose from shooting another 67 tomorrow or Rickie Fowler from going deep with a 31 on the second nine to win the Masters. He can’t control the bounces he gets or the cups rejecting putts. He can’t keep Sergio Garcia from busting through or the wind from whipping violently on No. 12 on Sunday recreating his nightmare scenario from 2015.

But he can control a lot, and he knows he can affect this tournament every year. He knows what everyone else knows: The Masters runs through Jordan Spieth.

“I think we know and the other players that are playing next week know that we strike fear in others [at Augusta],” said Spieth last week at the Sell Houston Open.

Spieth ambled up to the table on Friday afternoon as everyone else was looking forward to the weekend. Then on Saturday, he scooped this tournament in his hands. This is his world. This mystical, ephemeral space in time is his to toy with and turn over.

He alone is the keeper of this kingdom. 

Spieth loves having that power, and he loves that of all the tournaments, this is the one that chose him as its ambassador. He loves the Masters, and he loves waking up on Sunday morning with the sports world transfixed on what time he tees off. 

“It’s exciting,” said Spieth. “I mean, that’s an easy way to say it. Waking up and you have a chance to win your favorite tournament that you’ve dreamt of winning and competing in since you were a kid. To be able to have your fourth opportunity now ‑‑ I didn’t know going into my first one if I would have five chances in my life. So it’s awesome.”

Every world has a expiration date, though, and Tiger Woods has been a great reminder of that in the last half-decade. The question is what you do with that world while it’s yours to own. Spieth has become part and parcel of this annual event. On Sunday, with another win here, he can graduate into rarefied air. Two Masters and three majors before turning 24? Four straight top-two finishes at Augusta?

“Tomorrow might free me up a bit, being behind,” said Spieth. “I plan to play aggressive, because at this point, it’s win or go home. Finishing fifth versus 10th doesn’t mean much to me, so that frees me up a bit tomorrow. 

“I recognize on this golf course now, after contending on Sunday a few years in a row, that you often don’t need as low as you think. I say that but you never know. There are some studs at the top of the leaderboard and some guys who are not afraid to take chances. That’s what you can’t be afraid to do out here.

“I’ve been on both sides of it now, and I like the winning side better. So I’m certainly going to go for broke tomorrow.”

This is Spieth’s world, and it is a joy to watch him reign over it. The question when the dust settles after Round 4 is who else will occupy it with him. Who can wriggle out of his clutches of the first and second nine at this place?

He is the arbiter of all on Sunday at Augusta. He and he alone dictates how the tournament unfurls. That was true last year, and it was certainly true the year before.

Someone may do it, but going through Jordan Spieth to win the Masters is the most untenable task in golf. Three others will plod valiantly in this endeavor, and one may emerge victorious. But it won’t be without an epic fight at the hands of one of the great golfers in Masters history.

On to Sunday.