Lowry keeps patience to lurk just two shots off the pace in Tampa
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry remained patient after an infuriating day on the greens to keep his victory hopes intact at the Valspar Championship in Florida.
The world number 15 holed just one putt outside four feet in a one-under 70, but it left him just two shots behind leaders Nico Echavarria, Jacob Bridgeman and Viktor Hovland in his final event before the Masters.
Lowry birdied the first and bogeyed the second but managed to make only a 25-footer for birdie at the 10th before parring the last eight holes.
“I can't remember the last time I hit so many good putts that burned the edge,” Lowry said after shaving the hole from 30 feet at the last on the testing Copperhead Course at Innisbeook.
“I did hit it, like, probably a little bit too far away from the hole today. But I felt like I played a very solid round of golf and didn't make many mistakes. But I just feel like I didn't get rewarded at all today.
“I didn't have anything happen, didn't gain any momentum anywhere. But I'm only going to be two or three, four shots back at the most going into Sunday around here.
“So I know if I can go out on shoot in the mid-60s tomorrow that something could happen.”
Colombia’s Echavarria shot 66 to post the clubhouse lead before Bridgeman shot 70 and Hovland a 69 to join him on seven-under.
They lead by a shot from Ricky Castillo (68) with Lowry in a six-way tie for fifth with Justin Thomas (65), Chinese Taipei’s Kevin Yu (68), Davis Riley (69), Germany’s Jeremy Paul (70) and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune (71).
The Offaly man looked exasperated but remained patient as he felt he was hitting good putts.
“Honestly, I felt great with the putter today,” he said. “And even that one on 18 from 30 feet, tricky putt, but I felt like I was going to hole it.
“I was standing there, I was aggressive with my putts, I was getting them all to the hole. And yeah, I just burned a lot of edges today, but that's golf.”
With the top ten covered by just three shots and 30 players within five shots of the lead, Lowry knows the leaders could be under pressure from the earlier starters.
“You saw what happened today. J.T. (Justin Thomas) and Jordan (Spieth, three-under) went out and shot two good numbers this morning, and they're back in the tournament,” he said.
“So somebody's probably going to go out tomorrow morning and shoot a low number and put themself in there, and then it's up to the guys like myself who are out late to kind of try and get as far away as we can.”
One man hoping to shoot that early score is Seamus Power, who shot 70 to lurk in no joint 31st on one-under, just six off the lead.
At the Hoag Classic on the PGA Tour Champions, Fred Couples and Miguel Angel Jimenez shot seven-under 64s to lead by a shot from Freddie Jacobson in 11-under in California.
Darren Clarke and defending champion Padraig Harrington were six shots off the pace, tied for 21st on five under at Newport Beach Country Club after 68s.
