LOUISVILLE, KY - MAY 18: Shane Lowry reads his putt on the 17th hole during the third round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on Saturday, May 18, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Darren Carroll/PGA of America)

They say happiness in golf is a long walk with a putter and Shane Lowry certainly won’t disagree after producing one of the great putting rounds of his career to become the fourth man _ and the first European — to shoot 62 in a men’s major championship.

The Clara man had a 12-footer for his tenth birdie of the day at the par-five 18th for the first 61 in over 145,000 rounds in men’s major golf

But while it missed left — failing to match Leona Maguire’s 61 in the 2021 Evian Championship— he still produced thoroughbred display just 20 miles from the home of the Kentucky Derby, brandishing the new putter he put in the bag just three weeks ago and used to such good effect when winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Rory McIlroy.

The Clara man (37) was eight shots off the lead overnight, but felt he just had to tighten up his long game and eliminate a “wipey cut” with the driver to make the proverbial moving day move, so well was he rolling the ball on the greens.

As early as Monday here, Lowry felt he was just a few putts away from contending for another Major, having worked hard recently with his Florida-based putting coach, Donegal man Stephen Sweeney

“I honestly feel like if the putts that are just missing start going in, you never know,” he said, explaining that he was finally rolling the ball at the hole and it was just a matter of time before they started to drop.

“They’re starting to lip in lads!” he joked after getting a few breaks in Thursday’s 69 — a score he reproduced on Friday to go into the weekend tied for 29t

The last time an Irishman was outside the top 25 heading into the weekend at a major and entered Sunday inside the top five was in 2008 when Padraig Harrington won his third Major and the Wanamaker Trophy at Oakland Hills in Detroit.

True to his word on Friday evening, Lowry produced his best ball-striking performance of the week last night. But while he didn’t always hit the ball close, he made 160 feet of putts (having made 110 feet on Thursday and 120 feet on Friday) in an astonishing display. Most of them went straight in the front door.

After rolling in putts from 14ft, 13ft, 19ft and 7ft for four birdies in a row from the second, the Offaly man’s first test came at the tough, 503-yard sixth, where he found the bunker left of the green

But he resolved that problem with the minimum of fuss, almost holing out for birdie to leave the simplest of tap-ins..

Two great strikes left him a 60-footer for eagle at the seventh, which he resolved with another deftly judged lag putt to 18 inches to keep pace with playing partner Justin Rose, who was also five-under after seven en route to a 64 that left him just a shot adrift of Lowry on 12-under

Ten minutes later, Lowry was out in 29 and just two shots off the lead as he rolled in another 17-footer for birdie at the ninth.

He’d fail to get up and down from the sand for birdie at the par-five 10th and looked aghast as his approach to the 13th stopped at the top of a ridge and failed to spin back. But he was soon celebrating again as his 37-footer tumbled unerringly towards the cup and dropped.

Now seven-under for the day, Lowry was solo third on 11-under, just one stroke off the lead. Ten minutes later he was tied for the lead, rolling in a 32-footer at the 256-yard 14th.

After almost chipping in at the 15th, Lowry parred the 16th before following a booming 310-yard drive at the 17th with a 154-yard approach to six feet. The putt never looked like missing and he needed “only” a birdie four at the last for the lowest major round by a male golfer

He opted to lay up from the first cut of rough, leaving a 107-yard approach. But while his 12-footer failed to drop, he joins Xander Schauffele (twice), Rickie Fowler and Branden Grace as becomes the first male European to shoot 62 in a Major

There was also a brief third-round charge from McIlroy, who made a two-putt birdie at the driveable fourth followed by four birdies in a row from seventh to surge into a tie for fifth, just three shots off the lead.

The Holywood star’s putting let him down on the back nine, however, and after missing 10-footer at the 11th, 12th and 13th, he he bogeyed the 14th and 16th and birdied the last to card a three-under 68 that eventually left him seven shots off the lead.