AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) -- All that stands between Tiger Woods and a clean sweep of the majors is one more round at the Masters -- and a player who knows how to stop his amazing streaks.

An improbable journey that began last June at Pebble Beach suddenly came into focus Saturday at Augusta National as Woods emerged from a crowd with three straight birdies to take control.

Woods finished with a 4-under 68 and was at 204, giving him a one-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson, the No. 2 player in the world and his chief nemesis over the past 14 months.

It was Mickelson who ended Woods' streak of six consecutive PGA Tour victories at the Buick Invitational in February 2000. At the Tour Championship in November, it was Mickelson who ended the streak of 19 tournaments in which Woods turned a 54-hole lead into a victory.

By overcoming two big blunders with birdies on his last two holes, Mickelson finished with a 69 and will have a chance to stop the most important streak of all -- Woods' bid to become the first player in history to win four straight professional majors.

"I feel like I have the game," Mickelson said.

But so does Woods.

"Just to have the opportunity to do it is going to be a lot of fun," he said.

So ended a wild Saturday at Augusta, in which four players had the lead at one point and twice that many will have a chance in the final round.

Cabrera, the power hitter from Argentina, was at 12 under and seemingly in control until El Pato - The Duck - ran into a problem with water. His approach rolled back into the pond on the par-5 15th and he took double bogey.

Mickelson, who required only three holes to take the lead, tried a flop shot from the razor-thin surface of the 14th green to get over a massive hump and came up 30 feet short, from where he three-putted for double bogey.

Woods had no such problems.

After a two-putt birdie on the par-5 13th, his approach into the 14th stopped 4 feet from a birdie, and he followed that with a delicate chip behind the 15th green to within 2 feet for his third straight birdie and the lead.

Unlike his romp through Augusta four years ago, when he won by a record 12 strokes, Woods will have a host of challengers trying to stop him from something grand.

Mark Calcavecchia, who broke the PGA Tour's scoring record in Phoenix, had a 68 and was two strokes behind at 206. So was DiMarco, who had a 72 on a day when an even tougher Augusta required a little more.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Ernie Els had a 68 and was at 207, joined by David Duval, who got into Sunday contention at Augusta for the fourth straight year.

There were a dozen players within five shots of the lead, four of them past major championship winners, two others ranking in the top eight in the world.

"Even being three or four shots behind going into the final round, you're still in there with a chance to win," Els said. "Tiger being Tiger, he's not going to back down. But there's a lot of talent on that leaderboard."

Els wasn't alone in accepting the challenge.

"I wanted to be playing with him," said Mickelson, who just three weeks ago could only watch as Woods birdied the last hole to win at Bay Hill.

That's a turnaround from the praise heaped on Woods, starting last June at the U.S. Open when he won by a record 15 strokes in the toughest test of golf.

Woods followed that with an eight-stroke victory in the British Open, and a thrilling playoff to win the PGA and become the first man in 47 years to win three straight majors.

No one has ever won four straight professional majors. That's what awaits Woods at a Masters that has been slowly building toward a dramatic conclusion.

There could be no better final pairing.

Mickelson has won five times over the past two years, more than anyone except Woods. But he has never proved himself on golf's biggest stage - the majors. The closest he came was two years ago at the U.S. Open, but he missed crucial putts on the final three holes and finished second to the late Payne Stewart.

"I desperately want this," Mickelson said. "I've been dreaming of this day. This is not just a major. If you win, you become a part of the history of the game."

Woods is already there, with a chance to achieve something never done in the modern era of golf.

DiMarco still has a chance to become the first player to win in a Masters debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

DiMarco overcame an erratic bogey on No. 2, hitting a shot that ricocheted off a tree and into a bunker. He was tied for the lead until hitting a wedge over the 15th green and flubbing a chip shot on the 17th.

Calcavecchia has a chance to erase bad memories of Augusta. In 1988, he was poised for a playoff and possibly a green jacket until Sandy Lyle made birdie from a fairway bunker on the 18th to win.

"I have the capabilities of shooting a good score tomorrow," said Calcavecchia, a frequent practice partner of Woods.

Then he looked ahead to Sunday and the man he is chasing. Last summer at St. Andrews, when Woods completed the career Grand Slam by winning the British Open, Calcavecchia called him the "chosen one."

"He's in the best in the world," Calcavecchia said. "He has that going for him, which is nice."

Should Woods hold on to win his second green jacket, and hold the trophies of all four major championships, it would simply be grand.