There was joy for Shane Lowry as he took another giant step towards securing his PGA Tour card in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. But it was hell for playing partner Pádraig Harrington, who racked up a nightmare triple bogey seven at his final hole to miss his third cut on the spin this year.

On day when Paul McGinley also missed the cut, carding a 76 at Pebble Beach Golf Links to finish on 10 over before heading home to London to almost certainly ratify the selection of Darren Clarke as Ryder Cup captain, Harrington came to the 18th at Spyglass Hill three under for the day and right on the eventual seven-under par cut line.

According to Shotlink data, he had to reload off the tee, missed the fairway with his next attempt and eventually two-putted for his second triple bogey seven of the week and a level par 71 that saw him miss the cut by three strokes on four-under par.

It represented another blow for the 43-year old Dubliner, now ranked 289th in the world, who had made enough birdies (15) to sit alone in fifth place but, naturally, paid the price for five bogeys and those two triples.

Lowry, in contrast, has made just bogeys in three rounds on his Pebble Beach debut and shares 10th spot on 12 under par thanks to an immaculate, five under par 67 that featured a birdie three at the 18th, where Harrington took seven.

The 27-year old world No 40 can become a Special Temporary Member of the PGA Tour from the moment he equals the amount won in the preceding season by the 150th finisher on the FedExCup points list.

That was Johnson Wagner with 323 points and Lowry has unofficially accrued 83 points for his two official PGA starts in 2014-15 — 34th in the WGC-HSBC Champions late last year and a share of seventh in the Farmers Insurance at Torrey Pines last week.

Second place would be enough for Lowry to reach his goal this week but at 12 under par, he's six shots behind leader Jim Furyk, who shot a nine under par 63 at Pebble Beach in his first start for five months.

Furyk has a one-stroke lead over Matt Jones and Brandt Snedeker, who both shot five under 67s at Pebble Beach. 

But Lowry, who is tied for eighth with partner Dermot Desmond in the Pro-am, will have high hopes that he can produce a low round and challenge for a win that could catapult him to 23rd in the world.