Lowry chipper at Honda: "A little bit of confidence goes a long way with me"
Shane Lowry of Ireland reacts on the 11th green during the second round of The Honda Classic at PGA National Champion course on March 19, 2021 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)
Shane Lowry is praying the wind blows this weekend after he chipped in for a closing eagle three and fired a super 66 to charge into contention for the Honda Classic and his first win since The Open.
The Open champion birdied the third and bogeyed the short seventh to turn in level par before roaring home in 31 to share fifth place on seven-under with Denny McCarthy, Scott Harrington and Russell Henley, just five shots behind leader Aaron Wise.
Putting with confidence, he rolled in birdie putts at the 10th, 12th and 16th before recovering from a failed sand save at the 17th with a glorious chip-in eagle three the 531-yard 18th at PGA National.
“I called it going up there; I said let’s go and chip this one in, Bo,” beamed Lowry, who fancies his chances of ending his 20-month drought if the wind blows in Palm Beach Gardens over the next two days.
“I was nice and aggressive with it got it to the hole and thankfully it went in and it puts me in a great position going into the weekend.”
Wise shot a second successive 64 to lead by three shots on 12-under from Brandon Hagy (62) and overnight leader Matt Jones (70) with Sam Ryder solo fourth on eight-under after shooting a 63 to Padraig Harrington’s 78.
But Lowry’s confidence is on the rise following his change of putting grip and his eighth-place finish in The Players last week.
“A little bit of confidence goes a long way with me,” confessed Lowry who is licking his lips at the prospect of windy weekend conditions.
"I’m looking forward to it,” he added with a twinkle in his eye. "The reason I play this tournament because it plays so tough. I like to come down here and grind it out for a few days and hopefully see myself on top of the leaderboard.
“But it's going to be tough, it's going to take a lot of patience, a lot of skill, and a lot of good golf, and hopefully I have it all.”
Pointing to his change to the right-hand low putting grip as key, he added: "I'm actually quite excited about it because I do feel like if I can become a more consistent putter, I can become a more consistent golfer and have higher finishes and maybe win a couple more times and stuff like that. So it's exciting, yeah."
Graeme McDowell followed his opening 79 with a 69 to finish on eight-over but as Ryder went bogey-free, Harrington found water three times and dropped six shots in the dreaded Bear Trap, signing for a 78 that left him on 10-over.
The Dubliner (49) found water with his tee shot at the 178-yard 15th and went long into the water from the drop zone, running up a quadruple-bogey seven there before hitting his tee shot in the water to make a double-bogey six at the 438-yard 16th.
“It’s just a bonus,” Ryder said of a birdie two at the 15th. “You see it every single year. Guys make eights and nines. I played with Pádraig, and he, unfortunately, hit a couple of not terrible shots, and you are going back to drop zones.”
In the Magical Kenya Open, Cormac Sharvin, Jonathan Caldwell and Gavin Moynihan all missed the cut at Karen Country Club where Australia’s Scott Hend shot a seven-under 64 and Finland’s Kalle Samooja a 66 to share the lead on 11-under, a shot clear of Scotland’s Richie Ramsay and Connor Syme and South African Dean Burmester.
Sharvin shot a one-over 72 to miss out by two strokes on level par with Caldwell two shots further back after a second successive 72 and Moynihan 12 shots outside the cut mark on 10-over after a 75.
On the Korn Ferry Tour, Seamus Power (34) missed the cut in the Chitimacha Louisiana Open as he followed a four-over 75 with a one-over 72 to finish on five-over.
Lucan’s Richard O’Donovan also missed out in the Sunshine Tour’s Gauteng Championship at Ebotse Links near Johannesburg, finishing four strokes outside the cut mark on one-under despite making five birdies in a three-under 69.
The European Tour, meanwhile, has postponed next month’s Portugal Masters due to travel difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tournament was scheduled to take place from April 29 to May 2 at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course in Vilamoura but will now be replaced by the Tenerife Open, which moves from its original date of April 15-18.
The European Tour intends to fill that week with an alternate event in Europe, details of which will be announced in due course.
Meanwhile, golf will return for members only in Northern Ireland from April 1 with no more than two households allowed to mix in two-balls, three-balls or four-balls according to Golf Ireland’s Return to Golf Protocol for Northern Ireland.
With Level 5 restrictions still in place, members must not travel from a place of residence in the Republic to play golf north of the border.
