At least Steve Flesch upheld the honor of the guys with the LRRTM1 gene Saturday.

Steve Flesch knocks his ball out of the greenside bunker on the second hole during Saturday's third round. (Michael Holahan/Staff)

The least heralded of the four lefties to tee off in the Masters Tournament's third round made sure another southpaw will have a chance to wear the green jacket today.

By shooting 3-under par 69, Flesch put himself in contention for the fourth Masters victory by a left-hander in six years. He will be in the next-to-last group at 8-under par, trailing Trevor Immelman by three shots.

"I'm looking at it like I have nothing to lose," said Flesch, who has four PGA Tour wins and is playing in his fourth Masters. "As of six months ago, I wasn't even in this tournament. Nobody expects Steve Flesch to do much in the Masters tournament, but I have a big heart and I'm a gritty competitor ... and I'm showing a few of my wares this week."

The Kentucky native managed to avoid the rollercoaster most of his left-handed brethren rode throughout the day, making only one bogey to go with four birdies.

It was a different story for two of his mates -- Phil Mickelson and Mike Weir -- who teed off Saturday within five shots of the lead.

Mickelson, paired with Flesch, started the day three shots off the lead and birdied No. 2 to get within two shots of co-leaders Brandt Snedeker and Immelman. That would be the last positive thing to happen for the two-time Masters champ over the next several holes.

Phil Mickelson swings his putter after bogeying the eighth hole, where he missed a short par putt. Mickelson shot over par on five holes, including a double bogey on No. 16. (Rainier Ehrhardt/Staff)

He made a bogey on No. 6, and his wedge to the eighth green hit the pin and caromed away to make what could have been a tap-in birdie a tough 25-footer that he missed. To add injury to insult, he missed his short par putt and bogeyed the par-5, dropping him to 4-under par.

That seemed to take the steam out of Mickelson, as he bogeyed two of the next four holes. He started a comeback with birdies on Nos. 13 and 14, but the charge fizzled quickly after he missed a short birdie putt on the par-5 15th and double-bogeyed the par-3 16th. He parred out to limp in with 3-over par 75 and finds himself nine shots behind.

"I didn't play very well," Mickelson said. "There were a lot of low scores out there today, I just didn't shoot one."

Weir had a good round going until he hit the fifth hole. His bogey there was the first in a string of three that dropped him to 1-under par. A par on No. 8 and a birdie on No. 9 helped salve the wound. However, the bleeding began again on the back nine with consecutive bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12. Like Mickelson, he shot himself out of contention with 3-over-par 75.

The other left-hander, Bubba Watson, started the day at 1-over par and ended it at 2-over.

Mike Weir hits his second shot from the first fairway. He is tied for 19th after shooting 3-over 75. (Chris Thelen/Staff)

If Flesch pulls it out today, he will become just the fourth left-handed golfer to win a major, joining New Zealand's Bob Charles (1963 British Open); Weir; and Mickelson, who sandwiched a PGA Championship win between his Masters victories in 2004 and 2006. The 37-year-old from Union, Ky., qualified for the Masters by being among the top 30 in PGA Tour winnings at the end of last year. He won two tournaments last year, but the Reno-Tahoe Open victory came the same week as a World Golf Championships event and the Turning Stone Resort Championship win came opposite the seven-tournament Fall Series, respectively. Wins in these second-tier events don't qualify for automatic Masters invitations.

By any definition, including his own, Flesch is the quintessential PGA Tour journeyman. He started his career playing five years in Asia before getting his Tour card in 1997 when he finished in fourth place on the Nationwide Tour money list.

So being in the next-to-last group to tee off today is something Flesch said he will always cherish.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see the whole video of the tournament next week when I get a hold of that," he said. "But I said to my caddie coming up 16, I said, 'You know, all the Masters I've watched I've always wanted to be in one of the final groups.' And I said no matter what I do the rest of the week, this is the best day I've ever had at Augusta. So that pretty much sums it up."

Reach Mike Wynn at (7060 823-3218 or mike.wynn@augustachronicle.com.