Lowry beats Bay Hill hoodoo with super 66: "I did say after last week, it will be a nice time to find a bit of form"

Shane Lowry of Ireland plays a stroke from the No. 4 tee during the final round of the 2023 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, Sunday, April 9, 2023.

Shane Lowry believes he's hitting form in the nick of time as the Masters approaches after he fired a six-under 66 to break his Bay Hill hoodoo and lead the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando.

A modest 67th last year after missing the cut in his first four visits, the Offaly man combined some great driving with deadly putting and chipping to lead by a shot from Hideki Matsuyama and Justin Lower.

On a day when Rory McIlroy struggled to a disappointing 73, Lowry drove the ball better than everyone in the 69-man field, converted 135 feet of putts and chipped in for an eagle to build on Monday's fourth-place finish in the Cognizant Classic.

"I'm not used to shooting scores like this on this course," Lowry beamed. "My record here is incredibly bad and I had very low expectations going into there, but I knew I was coming off last week."

He added: "I'm very happy with that today. Maybe that's the kind of score I need to shoot around here to just give myself the confidence to go out and play my game around here."

He admitted the course was at the mercy of the players in calm conditions but also confessed he wouldn't be letting his guard down after one good day.

"This is as benign as I've seen it for a while, but I have never had the mindset of going out trying to 'get' Bay Hill because Bay Hill normally gets me," he joked. "But hopefully, I keep up this good stuff."

Seeking his first PGA TOUR win since The Open in 2019, Lowry (36) held a share of the 54-hole lead at PGA National last week and while he shot level par to finish tied fourth, he arrived at Bay Hill feeling good about his game.

"I'm not going to get ahead of myself," he said. "I think, obviously, we have huge tournaments coming up, and I did say after last week, it will be a nice time to find a bit of form with this week, The Players and obviously the Masters only around the corner. Yeah, we'll just see what happens over the next few days."

If he drives and putts as he did on Thursday, he will be tough to beat.

He made a 41-footer for birdie at the third to turn in one under before he caught fire on the trip home, reeling off four threes in a row to hit the front at six-under.

After hitting a wedge to three feet at the 10th, he rolled in a 35-footer at the 11th, then chipped in for an eagle three from six yards from against the collar of rough at the 12th to join early pace-setters Matsuyama and Lower on five-under.

It made him the first man since records began in 1983 to make consecutive threes at those three holes.

But he went one better and brushed in a 20-footer for another three at the 356-yard 13th to lead on six-under.

"It's funny, when you're out there playing and you get on a run like that it does feel pretty easy," he said. "I spoke about this with my coach this week. I said, 'This is the type of place where you get on a run and it feels easy, but then you get on a run the other way and start making bogeys, it feels like you're never going to make a par out here again'.

"It's one of them courses, it's very difficult. Look, I probably never have seen it play as easy on an afternoon as I did today. Obviously, we got a bit of rain on Tuesday night, we might have got a little bit last night, that helped us a little bit.

"It's normally one of the firmest golf courses we play, and I'm sure over the weekend it's going to firm up and become really difficult, but obviously 66 is a really good start."

A shot went when he missed the green at the 204-yard 14th and there was clearly tension in his face and his body language with his caddie as he was also forced to scramble at the 15th.

But he got the dropped shot back by rolling in an eight-footer for a birdie two at the 213-yard 17th, then made a good return putt for par at the last to shoot in the sixties for the first time in 13 spins around the course.

Seamus Power also had a solid day. He cancelled out bogeys at the second and eighth with birdies at the sixth and 16th to open with a level par 72 that left him tied 35th.

But it was a real battle for McIlroy, who struggled on and around the greens and signed for a one-over 73 after a 32-putt round that left him tied for 49th.

While he made an 18-footer for a two at the second, he dropped three shots in four holes from the sixth, rinsing his approach to the par five before following a three-putt bogey at the seventh with another three-putt from the apron at the ninth.

He stiffed his wedge to the 11th to get back to one-over but bogeyed the par-five 12th after failing to see the short grass until he hit the green.

After missing seven putts between 10 and 15 feet, he was 66th for strokes gained putting in the 69-man field and trailing world number one Scheffler, who had little luck the mallet putter McIlroy advised him to try but still shot 70.