PGA boost for Lowry after strong showing in Memphis
Shane Lowry of Ireland plays his shot from the second tee during the final round of the World Golf Championship-FedEx St Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind on August 02, 2020 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Shane Lowry heads into this week’s PGA Championship with high hopes after he made a miraculous closing par to record his best PGA Tour finish since The Open in the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational.
As Justin Thomas held off Brooks Koepka to win his 13th PGA Tour title by three shots on 13-under from the Floridian (69), Daniel Berger (65), Tom Lewis (66) and Phil Mickelson (67) and return to world No 1, Lowry closed with a three-under 67 to finish tied for sixth nine-under ($268,333) at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
His closing par was a beauty too. After finding water with his tee shot on the dangerous closing hole, he hit a 186-yard recovery to less than a foot and that can only give him hope ahead of this week’s PGA Championship.
It was also four rounds in the sixties for Lowry, who moved to 130th in the FedEx Cup standings with two events to go to make the top 125 who qualify for the playoffs.
As a result, he will quietly fancy his chances of putting up a good show in the first major of the season at Harding Park, where he failed to get out of the group stages at the 2015 WGC Cadillac Match Play.
Graeme McDowell finished tied 35th on three-under after a 69 and while it was another disappointing week for Rory McIlroy, the world No 2 signed off with just his second bogey-free round since the coronavirus lockdown.
A three-under 67 still left the Co Down man tied 47th in the 78-man field on one-under but after another up-and-down week, it at least gave him something positive to think about heading to San Francisco.
The Co Down man has struggled for inspiration and recorded just one top-30 finish from five starts since the PGA Tour returned without galleries in June.
Statistically, he was well down all categories in Memphis — notably 59th for approach play and 53rd for putting.
But as playing partner and Ryder Cup teammate Tommy Fleetwood remarked after shooting a 65 and finish alongside McDowell on three-under, there’s never a bad time to shoot a good score.
“It’s important to have rounds that just build confidence,” Fleetwood said after a six-birdie round.
As for the title, Thomas surged through the field with a closing 65, brilliantly covering the last four holes in two-under to win by three shots from Koepka (69), Berger (65), Lewis (66) and Mickelson (67) on 13-under.
Four strokes behind Brendon Todd (who went on to finish T15 after a 75), Thomas went out in 31, bogeyed the 12th but birdied the 15th and 16th thanks to brilliant pitches having enjoyed lucky bounces on both holes.
At the short, par-four 15th, his ball was headed for the water that snakes down the left but it hit the cart path and bounced safely over the penalty area.
After knocking a 51-yard wedge to six feet there and making the putt, he ricocheted out of trees at the par-five 16th but got up and down from 64 yards for birdie thanks to a controlled wedge to three feet
Koepka was just a shot behind playing the 16th but overshot the green and made bogey to fall two behind.
Thomas drove into rough at the last and knew he had to make par to win after Koepka birdied the 17th from 40 feet to close within one.
He secured his four but pressing to make birdie and force a playoff, Koepka drove into water at the last and took six, falling back into a tie for second with Berger, Lewis and Mickelson.
Despite that, he was hugely encouraged by his return to form ahead of his bid for a hat-trick of PGA Championship wins this week.
“I feel good. I feel like my game's right there,” Koepka said. “This is where we wanted to be, peaking for the PGA. I feel like my game's right there, everything's solid. I hit a lot of good putts today, just didn't go in. Yeah, I mean, I'm pleased with it.”
As for Thomas, he ended Jon Rahm’s two-week reign as world No 1 with a brilliant performance that sees him become the third-fastest player since 1960 to get to 13 wins behind Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods aged 27 years, 3 months and 4 days old.
“It was a hard-fought day, but it meant a lot … how we did it, being four behind to start the day.” Thomas said. “I haven't exactly played well coming from behind in the past and I feel like I learned a lot from that.”
He added: “I just didn't get ahead of myself anytime those last two, three holes, where I felt like my mind was kind of wandering and maybe thinking about winning.
“I basically just told myself to shut up and figure out what you're doing because I could lose that tournament just as easily as I won it today. I was really, really proud of myself to stay in the moment and get it done.”
On the LPGA Tour, Stephanie Meadow closed with a third successive 74 to finish tied 51st on six-over in the LPGA Drive On Championship at Inverness Club in Ohio. Scores
Danielle Kang closed with a 70 to win by a shot from Celine Boutier (71) on seven-under.
