Augusta, Ga. ? Saturday at the Masters was a show-stopper, all right.

At least inside the gates of Augusta National.

Tiger Woods electrified a massive gallery that stood shoulder-to-shoulder to watch his amazing turnaround — one putt away from cleaning out his locker to a familiar charge that left him on the cusp of the greatest comeback in Masters history.

Jeff Maggert, on the brink of collapse, birdied five of his six last holes and grabbed a two-shot lead, his first ever going into the final round of a major.

Vijay Singh chipped in for birdie and almost aced the 16th.

David Toms soared into contention with three straight birdies. Phil Mickelson raised hopes of winning that elusive major with three crucial pars.

“This is a position you dream about,” Maggert said after his 6-under 66, matching Woods for the best score of the third round.

Martha Burk could only dream of such attention.

The real rally belonged to Woods.

Woods was among those who feared this Masters might turn into a zoo because of all the protests against Augusta National’s all-male membership.

He was close. There was an inflatable pig at Burk’s demonstration a half-mile down the road from Magnolia Lane, but not much of a stink.

No one has ever won three straight Masters. No one has ever trailed by 11 shots after 36 holes and gone on to win at Augusta National.

None of this seemed plausible when Woods stood behind a small pine tree in the ninth fairway on his final hole of the second round. He managed to squeeze a shot under the shoulder-high branches and scratch out a par just to make the cut.

That was only the appetizer on a spectacular day of sunshine and golf.

Maggert has won only once in the previous nine times he led going into the final round, and there were plenty of stars lurking behind — Woods the most daunting.

“If you look at the leaderboard now, it would be tough to say that’s not one of the players you’ve got to worry about,” Maggert said. “But I’ve struggled so much with my golf game … it’s helped me focus on the golf course.”

He was at 5-under 211, one of only seven players who remain under par.

Mike Weir, who had a six-stroke lead at one point, staggered home with a 39 on the back for a 3-over 75 and was at 213, with Singh (70) and Toms (70) another stroke back.

Cheers crisscrossed Augusta National, but they were never far from Woods.

He started the third round at 5 over par with 42 players in front of him. When he played the last of his 26 holes Saturday, he was in a tie for fifth.

Woods practically called the shot.

“If I can be even par or under par, I’ll be right where I need to be,” he said after walking off the ninth green, relieved to have made his 102nd consecutive cut.

He is right there, four strokes and four players separating him from slipping on the green jacket for the third straight year.

While Woods commanded most of the attention, he was among 16 players within six shots of the lead going into the final round.

Two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, a forgotten man in golf this year, quietly crept into contention with a 71 and also was at 1-under 215.

Len Mattiace (69), Jim Furyk (71) and Jonathan Byrd (71), who grew up about 30 miles away in South Carolina and is playing his first Masters, were at 216.

As usual, Amen Corner was up to its old tricks.

Woods finally found some momentum at No. 11 by holing a 50-foot birdie putt that made a left turn as it got to the hole and dropped. On the par-5 13th, his second shot somehow stayed out of the water and he chipped close for birdie.

Others weren’t so fortunate.

U.S. Amateur champion Ricky Barnes, the first amateur in 42 years to play in the final two groups on the weekend at the Masters, was at 2 under and zeroing in on the lead when he took double bogey on the 12th.

Barnes shot 40 on the back for a 75 and was at 2-over 218.

Weir paid a steep price. His approach to the 11th plugged into the side of the hill inside the hazard line, and he played a delicate shot to limit the damage to a bogey. Two holes later, he went for the 13th green and landed in Rae’s Creek to make another bogey.

The tenacious Canadian is far from out of it. He has trailed going into the final round in all five of his PGA Tour victories, two of them earlier this year.

Maggert was a victim, too, when he took double bogey on No. 11. With quiet confidence, he struck back quietly.

His birdie blitz might have been a real show-stopper if Maggert had not three-putted for par on the 15th. Still, he hit his tee shot to 5 feet on the par-3 16th, made the first birdie of the round on No. 17 from 15 feet and closed out his 66 with a 20-foot birdie.

The tone was set early, when 75 players returned to complete the second round under blazing blue skies.

For a while, it appeared as though history might be revisited.

A three-putt bogey from 25 feet on No. 8 put Woods on the verge of missing the cut, just as Jack Nicklaus did in 1967 when he was trying to win his third straight Masters.

Woods was 5 over — right on the cut line — when he sprayed his drive behind a pine tree that blocked his path to the green. He hit a waist-high shot that ran up the slope and dropped into a bunker, then calmly blasted out to 3 feet above the hole.

If he missed, his chances were over.

“That putt was either going in or going off the green,” Woods said.

He powered it in the right side for perhaps the most important par he has ever made at the Masters.

Weir finished with a 68 and had a four-stroke lead after 36 holes, the first time a Canadian has been in the lead at the Masters since Stan Leonard in 1959.

The sun was out, big names lit up the scoreboard, and the Masters finally felt like its old self after a week of rain. Though the protest site was a short walk down the road from Magnolia Lane, it seemed so far away