Lowry heads chasing pack as McIlroy and Power dig deep and Harrington bows out
Shane Lowry at Augusta in 2020
SHANE Lowry roared into contention for Masters glory when he fired a sensational four-under 68 in attritional conditions to move into a tie for second place at Augusta National.
The Clara man (35) said before the tournament that he had the game and the form to become the first Irishman to win the Masters and he showed he means business in winds gusting up to 30 mph as he followed an opening bogey with birdies at the second, seventh, 10th, 13th and 15th.
He’s five shots behind world number one Scottie Scheffler, who matched Justin Thomas with a five-under par 67 as Rory McIlroy and Seamus Power played their last six holes in two-under to join him for the weekend,
After missing a four footer for par at the first, Lowry birdied the second from eight feet and the seventh from five before he pitched into the hole from 38 yards for an outrageous birdie three at the 10th.
He then two-putted the 13th for birdie, made a nine footer for par after flying the 14th, then almost holed his 86-yard third for eagle at the par-five 15th.
He had to make another nine footer for par at the 16th after a testing first putt and now shares second place with 2011 champion Charl Schwartzel (69), Korea’s Sungaje Im (74) and defending champion Hideki Matsuyama (69) on three-under par.
As Tiger Woods shot a two-over 74 to share 19th on one-over, Séamus Power survived his Amen Corner sins and produced a stunning finish to dip inside the projected cut line on his Masters debut.
As Rory McIlroy also battled back from the brink of missing the cut for the second year running, picking up two shots over his last six holes to card a second successive 73 to share 23rd on two-over, the West Waterford man learned first hand that everything they say about Amen Corner is true.
He’d heard all about the capricious swirling winds that make the stretch from the approach to the 11th to the tantalising par-five 13th a graveyard for many Masters hopes. But after having his patience sorely tested as he turned in three-over 39, he came back from six-over for the tournament with six to play with two late birdies, carding a second successive 74 on a day when swirling winds saw the field average 74.9.
Power made his first Masters birdie at the 10th, ripping a 200-yard approach through the crosswind to four feet and laughed as he raised his arms in mock triumph to his travelling support.
But while he then suffered successive Amen Corner body blows, dropping shots at the 11th, where the wind whipped his 213-yard approach right of the green, and the 12th, where he watched Patrick Reed’s tee shot knocked down into Rae’s Creek and comfortably fired his ball into the back bunker, he regrouped admirably.
Not many 74s feel special, but this one will live long in the memory.
His journey back from the brink began when he chipped dead from the edge of Rae’s Creek to birdie the 13th, survived air-mailing the 15th by 30 yards with a three wood to salvage his par five, then rifled an eight-iron over the lake to three feet at the 16th before finishing with two rock-solid par fours.
“It was tough there today, and my patience on the front nine was running thin,” said Power, who drove into the trees and bogeyed the fifth, dropped another shot when he missed the sixth green left and then three-putted the par-five eighth from 40 feet after a bunkered tee shot forced him to lay up for the second day running.
Third birdie on the second nine. Shane Lowry taps in on No. 15 to reach three under par. #themasters pic.twitter.com/UOZEpmjrGx
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 8, 2022
“I’m making bogeys, and you’re like I’m not really sure what just happened there. You think you’ve hit a good shot but just hits the wrong slope, it comes up four or five yards short or goes four or five yards long, and you’ve got four or five feet.”
He didn’t appear to have a prayer of making the cut when he bogeyed the first two holes in Amen Corner.
“Eleven is into the teeth, and the pin is in a narrow section on the front,” he explained. “It’s the same at 12. I watched guys and heard guys talk about 12 for years, and you’re like, Nah, it can’t be that bad really. Then you’re standing there today, and it was this bizarre sequence of events. Patrick Reed in front of me hits an 8-iron. We hit irons similar distance. He hits his 8-iron about 135 yards into the water. It was like, okay, I guess I have to flight it down a little bit.
“I hit one of the best shots of the day, and you watch it fly straight into the back bunker. Then you’ve got a shot you can’t land on the green.”
Power can’t wait to build on his momentum this weekend and hopes he can better take advantage of the par-fives.
“The whole experience here has been incredible,” he said. “It’s going to be a great memory to play two more times. Hopefully, I can carry that little bit of momentum I got today into the weekend.”
It was also an important day for McIlroy, who birdied the second, bogeyed the fifth and 10th and double-bogeyed the 11th to slip to four-over before following Power’s example with birdies at the 13th and 16th to keep his dreams of the green jacket and the career Grand Slam alive.
Pádraig Harrington (50) added a 75 to his opening 74, missing a 14 footer for birdie at the last to miss the cut by a shot on five-over par.
“I struggled on the greens today,” Harrington said after following a birdie at the second with bogeys at the third, sixth, 10th and 15th. “I was very uncomfortable on the greens and obviously it feeds into your game when you lose that little bit of confidence. So it was a tough day.
“There was no freedom and even with a couple of birdie chances towards the end, you don’t want to leave yourself a two or three footer and you are tiddling them down towards the hole so not the day I wanted on the greens.”
