Lowry shares Abu Dhabi lead with Harrington lurking after remarkable 64
ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES - JANUARY 21: Shane Lowry of Ireland tees off on the eighteenth hole during day three of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links Golf Course on January 21, 2023 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
Shane Lowry produced a stellar closing birdie to grab a share of the lead heading into the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, but he'll have veteran Padraig Harrington breathing down his neck as part of a huge chasing pack at windy Yas Links on Sunday.
As 51-year-old Harrington made six straight birdies on the back nine in an eight-under 64 to close within two of the leaders as he bids to become the oldest winner in DP World Tour history, 2019 Abu Dhabi winner Lowry recovered from his lone bogey at the 17th by rifling a 185-yard approach to six feet at the last.
A six-under 66 gave the 2019 Open champion a share of the lead with Australia's Min Woo Lee (66) and 2018 Open winner Francesco Molinari (69) on 13-under par, one stroke ahead of Scotland's Grant Forrest (65), Sweden's Sebastian Soderberg (66) and France's Victor Perez (68).
US Senior Open champion Harrington is a shot further back in a four-way tie for seventh with Ryder Cup hopefuls in Antoine Rozner, Adrian Meronk and Guido Migliozzi but Lowry is licking his lips at the chance to rack up his third Rolex Series win in his first start of the year.
"It's nice to go out on a Saturday, in tricky conditions coming in on the back nine and to put myself in there for tomorrow is pretty nice," said the world number 20, who got his round up and running when he holed an eight-iron from 162 yards for an eagle two at the sixth.
"First tournament of the year, you don't know what's going to happen. My thing would be I try and give myself as many chances to win as I can, and at some stage, hopefully it happens.
"Tomorrow I've got a chance to go out there and do something special, so hopefully I can bring the game that I brought the last few days and roll a few putts in as well and you never know.
"Is it (breezier tomorrow)? I don't mind. I don't mind it. When it's breezy out there, it's very tricky, and I'll be able to deal with that."
What a shot @ShaneLowryGolf!
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) January 21, 2023
A hole-out eagle at the second hardest hole of the day. #ADGolfChamps | #RolexSeries pic.twitter.com/oW21iDU5HN
Harrington is trying to win on the main tour, not as a one-off achievement, but to prove to himself that last year's dominance on the seniors tour can be translated into more wins — including Major wins — alongside the "juniors".
"I'm very happy," said Harrington, who was treading water a one-under through five holes when he chipped in for birdie at the sixth. "It sometimes happens on a Saturday. You go out there a little bit early, off the lead, no pressure, no stress. Got a good vibe in the group talking, chatting, telling stories and the score just happened.
"I didn't realise I made six birdies in a row on the back nine and that's a good place to be on the golf course when you're not overthinking and you're enjoying what you're doing and enjoying the company."
As for winning at 51, which would make him the oldest winner on tour after Phil Mickelson broke Miguel Angel Jimenez's record by winning the 2021 US PGA at 50, Harrington said: "I think it would mean an awful lot to me to become the oldest winner.
"If I went and won right now, I actually think it would mean something totally different. It would mean that I am actually competitive. You know, if I go and win out of the blue somewhere and steal a win, that's nice.
"I can put it down on my CV as the oldest winner. But if I come into tournaments talking a big game and deliver, that means I'm a player again with the young guys, and it would be other goals I would be seeking out, not just a sort of random sneaky win at my age.”
Harrington contended for the US PGA won by Mickelson in 2021 and while he believes he's a better player than ever he wants to find out if that's true and if it is, he can see himself playing more on the main tours outside his appearances in the US PGA, the US Open and The Open this year.
"I don't have to win to prove that I'm good enough to compete with these guys," Harrington said. "If I go out tomorrow and I'm competitive, and even -- I'm not going to hang myself on that either. I'm up there at the moment. I do not think it's a fluke that I'm there. We'll see how I play out. "I'm playing with the juniors for the next number of weeks. We'll see if I can continue to be up at the top and competitive, and if I am, it will have to be different schedules."
He added: "I could see myself chasing my tail all year and trying to get a win on the regular tour. It's an interesting place I'm at. I'm curious to see where I am established in the game at the moment. I believe I'm better than I've ever been, but that doesn't mean it's a fact or true. We'll see. I'm not going to put myself under too much stress but it's nice.
"I felt like I left an awful lot of shots out there for my first 27 holes this week, and then I hit a wall when I was on the cut line and then I relaxed again today and played some lovely golf."
Harrington put his longevity down to having the means to look after his body during the Tiger Woods fuelled prize fund boom. "I would have been the first guys who started in the year of Tiger's big money, let's say. I always had a full-time physio and I all had a full-time trainer and I would have looked after myself all the time," he said.
"So just a different lifestyle. I think there are a lot of players who will get to 50 years of age fitter, stronger. I think the biggest problem is burnout. I was burnt out five years ago, no doubt about it. I'm here because I had nothing else to do.
All I could think of when I was over this,was I’d given a 9 minute tutorial on how to prepare for the variable lies around the greens @ADGolfChamps. So I better not mess this one up. It was a good break for the momentum of the round. @DPWorldTour #yaslinks https://t.co/RoIEZ6LLF6
— Padraig Harrington (@padraig_h) January 21, 2023
"I figured out this is actually what I like doing and I'm pretty good at it, and there's no point in trying to be good at something else. I'll never be good as I am at golf, so why not find a way of going out there and loving golf again. I found that it did help me a lot on the Champions Tour, no doubt about it, but even before I got to the Champions Tour, I realised I had to change as a golfing personality."
While the top 32 on the leaderboard are covered by just six shots, Sunday is a chance for Molinari to win for the first time since the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Ranked as high as fifth in the world shortly after his win at the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie, Molinari fell to 249th at the start of last year but showed with his unbeaten performance in last week's Hero Cup he's close to his best again.
"Yeah, definitely it is going to be a sort of shootout tomorrow, so there are loads of guys with a chance, so we will see," Molinari said. "If the wind gets up, obviously, the course plays trickier, so you might get someone shooting a low score in the morning and posting a low score. So, I think an exciting day in store for the viewers, maybe not so much for us, but it will be a fight, so it is nice at least to position myself with a chance going into tomorrow.”
Seamus Power is tied for 22nd on seven-under, six shots off the lead after a bogey-free, two-under 70 while Tom McKibbin missed the cut by a shot earlier in the day when he ran up a double bogey seven at the 18th and shot a 71 to finish on one-under par.
Meanwhile, Darren Clarke is three shots behind leader Steve Stricker heading into today’s third round at PGA Tour Champions’ Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.
The Dungannon man followed his opening 65 with a 66 to get to 13-under but Stricker shot a 12-under 60 to lead by two shots from Alex Cejka on 16-under.
