Lowry aiming for “low number” as he faces three shot deficit at Sawgrass
Shane Lowry celebrates his hole-in-one on Sunday
SHANE LOWRY goes into the final round of the $20 million Players Championship looking to shoot "a low number" after a five-under 67 left him just three shots off the lead heading into this afternoon's final round.
The Offaly man knew his spectacular hole in one on the 17th on Sunday put him right back in the tournament, but while he expected to be at least four strokes off the lead this afternoon, the leaders failed to take advantage of perfect scoring conditions, and he's got just seven players ahead of him with 18 holes to play.
"Yeah, it's funny because sometimes it can work the other way," he said of the momentum he gathered with his ace in his bid for a record $3.6 million payday.
He had four holes of his third round to complete earlier today and while he missed a six-footer for birdie at the sixth (his 15th), he parred the seventh and eighth before he hit a 90-yard pitch to six feet at the 574-yard ninth and rolled in the birdie putt.
"You do something like that, and it can be hard to come down off a high like that," said Lowry, who is tied for eighth on six-under, three shots behind India's Anirban Lahiri, who shot 67 to lead by one stroke from Sebastián Muñoz (65), Doug Ghim (68), Paul Casey (69) and Sam Burns (71).
"But I obviously bogeyed the 18th afterwards, but I went on to birdie the first and second when I turned, and I came back out this morning and hit some nice shots. But I should have birdied six and then birdied nine there.
"I feel like I'm going to be within somewhat touching distance of the leaders and hopefully, I can shoot a low number. But definitely, it kick-started my tournament really.
"I said to Bo when I was standing at the back of the green after all the madness, I said, we're back in the tournament now, and yeah, it's nice, and I'm looking forward to this afternoon."
As for the winning score, he said: "I have no idea. It's probably going to be a nice afternoon, so scoring is probably going to be pretty hot this afternoon with the conditions of the golf course.
"The greens are nice and they're soft. I'm probably going to have to shoot a pretty good number to give myself a chance."
He closed with a 68 to finish a career-best eighth last year but will likely need to shoot closer to 65 to follow in the footsteps of 2019 winner Rory McIlroy.
As for his hole in one, he said: "A lot of things happen in this game, special things and it's nice to have that one on my CV. I'll have to get a nice painting of 17 and hang it up in the house somewhere.
"The best thing about it is it put me back in the tournament. This is obviously one of the biggest tournaments of the year for us and it's nice to be in the hunt."
Séamus Power had five holes of his third round to complete but double-bogeyed the 15th after driving into the trees and dropped another shot at the 16th when his second from the intermediate rough bounded through the green into the water.
He parred the 17th but then birdied the 18th from 24 feet, carding a one-over 73 to fall from 22nd to 44th on one-under.
Rory McIlroy started for home with back to back bogeys at the first and second and while he birdied the sixth and seventh, a 73 left him tied 61st on three-over.
The final round promises to be a cavalry charge with the top 25 on the leaderboard covered by just five strokes.
World number 10 Cameron Smith is just two strokes behind in a tie for sixth with Tom Hoge, while Lowry is in a seven-way tie for eighth with Scotland's Russell Knox, Kevin Kisner, Louis Oosthuizen, Kevin Streelman, Will Zalatoris and Harold Varner III.
The Clara man, whose most recent win came in The Open at Royal Portrush in 2019, is paired with Hoge and Knox in the third last group.
