SHANE LOWRY lit up The Open with back to back eagle twos to storm into contention only to see his hopes of a second Claret Jug fade away on the back nine with what he described as “horrific” putting.

The 2019 champion was tied for fifth, just four shots behind the leaders, after sensationally pitching in for eagles at the ninth and 10 only to lose his putting and three-putt for bogeys at the 12th and 15th before following another bogey at the tough 17th with a birdie at the last.

A 69 left him tied for 14th on seven-under and the Offaly man could not hide his disgust afterwards at letting a golden opportunity slip through his fingers at the Home of Golf.

“It was a very emotional day,” Lowry said. “I felt like through the middle of the front nine, I was going along okay, not doing anything great and then nine and 10 happened and then I felt like I was in the tournament and I did well to play my way out of the tournament then from there.

“I am pretty annoyed and pretty pissed off to be honest. I keep telling myself and I keep saying all the time that I want to get to the back nine on Saturdays with an opportunity to do something great and I got myself there today and I didn’t perform, so that’s very disappointing.

“It doesn’t take Einstein to figure out what went wrong on the back nine. My putting was horrific. I am so disappointed to be honest because I work so hard to get myself in those positions and I am just as disappointed as I have been in a long time.

“I wasn’t going to come in here (to talk to the press) but it is just hard. You are there, you have a good chance to shoot one-under for the last seven holes and from being very bullish about my chances going into tomorrow, now I have no chance. It’s very disappointing.”

Lowry has been putting great all year until he lost feel at the Canadian Open and the US Open.

He felt he had found something at the Irish Open but it was not there at St Andrews.

After struggling to make putts in rounds of 72 and 68 for the first two days, Lowry’s third round looked to be going nowhere on a sweltering afternoon.

Playing alongside Dane Nicolai Hojgaard, he got it up and running when he hit a 75-yard pitch to nine feet at the third and rolled in the putt.

But he three-putted the fourth from 55 feet, leaving his first putt six feet short and did well to two-putt from 60 feet at the eighth before his round erupted into life.

Fortunate to stay out of the gorse left at the 352-yard ninth, he hit a gorgeous pitch from 43 yards that checked on its second bounce and rolled to the left edge of the hole before toppling in for an eagle two to send him into a tie for ninth on seven-under.

He then repeated the trick at the 386-yard 10th, playing a long pitch and run from 46 yards that landed at the front of the green and made a beeline for the flagstick.

Hojgaard raised his putter loft as it honed in on its target, then raised both arms in the air as it dropped for another two, prompting a double-fisted celebration from Lowry followed by a low-five with his caddie Brian “Bo” Martin as the massive galleries around the loop exploded with the biggest roar of the day.

“I hit a poor tee shot on nine and got a good break and hit a lovely pitch shot from a nice lie in the rough. I could be fairly aggressive and I knew it was going to spin and I hit a lovely shot. Then on 10, I hit a great shot and had a straightforward enough pitch.

“It was a tricky pin and I was just trying to get it as close as I could and it just came out perfect and it went in like a putt as well. It was pretty cool and good fun but the rest of the day wasn’t as enjoyable.”

He was suddenly tied for fifth on nine-under, five-under for the day and just four shots behind the leaders, who had yet to start.

But he would three-putt from 15 feet to bogey the 12th after his delicate pitch stopped at the top of a bank instead of tricking to the holeside and he then blasted the putt six feet past.

He then failed to birdie the par-five 14th and took three putts from just off the back of the 15th to drop back to tied 12th on seven-under.

Another shot went at the 17th, where he drove in the left rough and failed to get up and down from 52 yards for par.

“I hit a lovely pitch on the 12th and if that rolled another foot it was stiff and another birdie but it didn’t. It stayed on top and I knocked it six feet by and missed that one. And then it was just from there on in it just wasn’t great.

“I played good but I just didn’t putt good enough when you put in all those hours every day to give yourself a chance on the back nine of a Major on a Saturday and Sunday and you don’t perform, you need to look at something.

“I am going to go away and going to have to go to the putting green this afternoon and figure something out for tomorrow because it just hasn’t been good enough all week. If I had holed anything all week, I would still be out there playing now and I’d be there or thereabouts with the leaders.

“Like I say, it just isn’t good enough.”

Believing he can still finish on a high, he said: “To be honest, I think it is a credit to my game that the way I have putted, I am going to be top 20 heading into Sunday around here.

“So I am fairly bullish that if I do figure something out, I will shoot a score tomorrow. I will try my best. I don’t have the answer.

"If I did, I wouldn’t need to go to the putting green now. It’s just hard. This game is hard sometimes.”