As Rory McIlroy looks to win his first green jacket, Saturday at the 2018 Masters was a step in the right direction.

The 28-year-old started the third round at four under and five strokes back of leader Patrick Reed. However, a strong start to Day 3 helped him close the gap and put himself within striking distance.

He has won the U.S. Open, the Open Championship and the PGA Championship—but he has never won at Augusta National Golf Club. In fact, he has never finished higher than fourth at the tournament. Entering the final day, he has a chance to change that.

Below is a recap of McIlroy's round as he chases his first win at Augusta.

2018 Masters Leaderboard

1. Patrick Reed 67 (-14)

2. Rory McIlroy 65 (-11)

3. Rickie Fowler 65 (-9)

4. Jon Rahm 65 (-8)

5. Henrik Stenson 70 (-7)

Full leaderboard can be seen at PGATour.com.

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It was an impressive start to Day 3 for the No. 7 player in the world.

After struggling on the front nine on Friday (three bogeys), McIlroy responded with an incredible performance. By the time he reached the eighth hole, he was tied atop the leaderboard.

His highlight of the day came via an unbelievable chip on hole No. 8 to put him at nine under, as the PGA Tour's official Twitter account captured:

That's the definition of feeling it. This Golf Channel tweet pretty much summed things up:

Just how "in the zone" was he?

Three birdies and an eagle can do wonders for a score.

Catching Reed certainly helped put him in a great position in the standings—but there was still plenty of work to be done. And unfortunately for the Irish golfer, Reed started to catch fire as McIlroy evened things up.

McIlroy cooled off on the back nine and dropped back of Reed. In addition to the ninth hole, he started the back nine off with five straight pars as golfers had to deal with some rain. Those relative struggles were on display on No. 13 when he found himself in the azaleas.

He was, however, fortunate to be able to save for par, as Masters Highlights showed:

He managed to give himself a boost with a birdie on 15 as he tried to chip into the red-hot Reed's lead. And as Reed cooled off, McIlroy took some momentum into Sunday by draining a long birdie putt on 18.

Overall, McIlroy should head into the clubhouse encouraged by his play on Saturday. He played phenomenally early on and then ran into some tough luck before ending the day on a high note. He put pressure on Reed by storming out of the gates, and although he was not able to keep pace on the back nine, his 65 keeps him in the mix.

As he showed in the third round, things can change in a hurry when he is on top of his game.

The Golf Channel's Matt Ginella tweeted what everyone was thinking as the day went on:

McIlroy explained his mindset as he prepared to face Reed, via the Golf Channel's Ryan Lavner: "All the pressure is on him tomorrow. I'm hoping to come in and spoil the party."

Buckle up. If Saturday's action was any indication, the final round on Sunday will be must-see TV.