AUGUSTA, Ga. -- To Australian golfers, the great barrier reef lies at Augusta National Golf Club, not off the coast of their home country.

No Aussie has ever won the Masters Tournament. Several have contended, some multiple times. David Graham posted three top-five finishes in the early-1980s. Ian Baker-Finch did likewise a decade later.

And Greg Norman threatened eight times, most notably in 1996, when he blew a six-stroke lead to lose by five shots to Nick Faldo, and in 1987, when Larry Mize chipped in from 140 feet to defeat him in a playoff.

Stuart Appleby is out to end Australia's run of Masters misfortune. The 35-year-old shot a 1-over 73 in his third round Saturday to get to 2-over for the tournament and was tied for the lead with Augusta native Vaughn Taylor, who was still on the course as of 7 p.m.

Appleby started the day three shots behind 36-hole leaders Brett Wetterich and Tim Clark at 1-over par. And as the rest of the frontrunners fell back in the chilly, blustery conditions, Appleby moved forward.

Appleby ascended the leaderboard with three straight birdies starting at No. 2. He gave a stroke back with a bogey at No. 7 but steadied himself with nine straight pars.

He led by three shots at that point only to make a triple bogey at the par-4 17th hole. He hit his tee shot into the trees left of the fairway, and it was a "comedy of errors from there," Appleby said.

"Stuff like that happens out here," Appleby said. "The day as a whole was very, very good. I felt confident and played confident on a day that was very, very tough. Seventeen, that's golf and that's Augusta."

The triple bogey dropped him behind Justin Rose for about five minutes, until the Englishman missed a four foot par putt at No. 16. Rose made another bogey at No. 17.

Taylor took the lead with a birdie at No. 15. He started the round one stroke behind the leader but made three bogeys on his first nine holes, leaving him 2-over for the tournament.

Appleby and company eventually came back to Taylor, though, and his birdie at No. 15 vaulted him to a one stroke lead.

Wetterich and Clark dropped back long before the closing holes. Clark managed to stay among the top-10 scorers despite being 7-over through 15 holes, but Wetterich was 10-over in the same stretch and 8-over for the tournament.

Yet in testament to the course conditions, 8-over left Wetterich tied for 19th place. David Toms said the winds gusted to the extent he worried about his ball being blown around the putting surface. Vijay Singh used his golf umbrella to shield himself from the wind as he walked the 15th fairway And those winds, combined with temperatures that topped out at 50 degrees, made the greens hard and slick. Rich Beem, who shot a 3-over 75 and is 11-over for the tournament, said it "was like trying to land a ball on your driveway, but your driveway has mounds on it and they stick the pins near the mounds."

"With these greens, this is probably the hardest day we've ever had out here," Tiger Woods said. "Make 18 pars and you'll move up that board. That's usually not the case here."

Woods climbed the leaderboard almost as rapidly as Appleby -- until the final holes of his round. Woods was 1-over par, two shots behind Appleby, with a long eagle putt at No. 15. He three-putted for par, made another par at the par-3 16th hole and bogeyed his way home.

The even-par round left his 3-over for the tournament. Woods was tied for third place with Rose, one shot behind the leader.

Yet few of the 60 players who made the 36-hole cut can be considered out of contention entering Sunday's final round. Only one player, Retief Goosen, broke par Saturday, and 51 players shot 75 or worse.

Goosen finished his round around 3 p.m. and was eight shots off the lead at 6-over for the tournament at that point. His deficit will be approximately half that when he tees off Sunday morning.

"Players have to change their target score a bit," former Masters champion Ben Crenshaw said. "You have to take what you get. Even par is a superb round of golf."