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Out in front: Shane Lowry.
final push
Lowry feeds off Doonbeg’s Saturday evening energy to lock down Irish Open lead
Offaly man is seeking to win his home open for the first time since 2009.
LAST UPDATE | 1 hr ago
AS SHANE LOWRY walked up the hill to the elevated green on Doonbeg’s 15th hole, and considered the three feet that he had left for his sixth and final birdie of the day, the first chant of Olé Ole went up from the Saturday evening gallery.
By that stage, Lowry was already midway through a remarkable run that saw him post a joint-low round of five-under par 65, hold his nearest challengers at arm’s length, and stretch his lead to four shots ahead of Sunday’s final round.
Walking off the ninth green a little over an hour earlier, Lowry found his lead had been whittled away to nothing, the impressive Jacob Skov Olesen going out in 31 to force his way into a share of the honour at the top.
But roared on by a vocal home support that played every shot with him, the Clara native stitched together a streak of nine successive one-putts on the back nine, digging himself out of more than a few tricky situations, barrelling forward with momentum, and ultimately, breaking the spirit of the chasing pack.
For tonight, anyway.
After Lowry produced one last majestic up and down at the 18th to save par – watched from the pavilion by Donald Trump Jr and family – Olesen trickled a three-foot par putt by. The Dane will once again join Lowry in Sunday’s final group (2.05pm), three shots clear himself of Joaquin Niemann in third, but he will know that he could and should be even closer.
Twice this season, Lowry has been within striking distance of victory: at the Dubai Invitational, where he held a one-shot lead teeing off on his final hole, and at the PGA Tour’s Cognizant Classic, where he started the final day in a share of the lead. Twice, he came up empty-handed.
For a man who hasn’t had an individual win since Wentworth in 2022 – four years to the day on Friday – it would be the sweetest triumph, 17 years on from his first Irish Open win as an amateur in Baltray.
The three birdies he had across his bogey-free back nine on Saturday evening only tell one small part of the story. Once again this week, Lowry’s short game has been his salvation, and every time he found himself out of position on the tricky stretch of closing holes, he found the answer just as quickly.
“Any time you play links golf in 15, 20-mile-an-hour winds, and it got a little cold at the end there, it’s going to be hard and you’re going to have some testers for pars,” he said afterwards.
“I felt like I did a great job today of just staying in the moment and playing my own game.
“I had so much fun out there on the back nine. The crowds were incredible. They cheered me on the whole way home and hopefully will do the same tomorrow.”
After a slow-paced front nine not helped by the arrival of Marine One as the leaders played into the second, there were surely a few nervous glances at the sky, and at watches, on the approach to the 10th as playing partner Haotong Li waited for what seemed like an eternity for a referee’s ruling. When play finally resumed, Lowry made a lovely up-and-down birdie from the front left apron to force his way back into the lead.
He found himself defending that advantage straight away, pulling his tee shot into the par-three 11th to the left where it propped itself up in an awkward spot on one of the greenside mounds. His touch was sublime, the collected energy of the crowd practically drawing the ball towards the hole until it came to a rest eight foot short. The resulting tidy-up job was anything but straightforward, even if Lowry made it look that way.
When Olesen left his own birdie chance on the lip of the 12th hole, Lowry seized the initiative and turned the screw to extend his lead, the gallery now making their presence felt in the hazy Doonbeg evening.
Li, whose expressive display seemed to endear him to the Irish fans, also benefitted. After a grinding couple of holes, one spectator offered him a sip of stout as he prepared to play into 12, assuring him it would “take the edge off”.
“I’m gonna make a lot of birdies now,” Li laughed as he accepted the offer, before going on to three-putt for bogey.
Lowry’s par save on 13 was greeted with a clenched fist to the crowd, and a fist bump for caddy Dermot Byrne, and when he bailed himself out again with the putter on 14, trickling in a downhill right-to-left, it felt like a show of defiance in the face of those who might dare to take this tournament away from him.
The fifteenth practically turned into a shootout with Olesen, both playing their seconds from almost the exact same spot 98 yards out. Lowry took dead aim at the flag, leaving himself with three feet back up the hill; Olesen’s birdie putt slipped by, and Lowry dropped his deadweight in the front door.
“I’m normally the one watching other people do it,” he said of the one-putt streak that became the story of this round, “so why not me sometimes. It’s nice.
“I’m seeing my lines well, and starting the ball where I want, and they’re going in. Hopefully that stays that way for another 24 hours.”
After two more hard-saved pars on 16 and 17, Lowry found himself out of position one last time, out on a crosswalk to the left of the 18th fairway. His approach stayed left, coming to a rest a few feet in front of the greenside pavilion from which US President Donald Trump had earlier watched proceedings.
As he walked to his ball, with the crowd’s acclaim ringing in his ear, the prospect of a clean sweep of one-putts popped into his head.
“It’s amazing what you think of. It was nice.
“I was out of position a few times, but I knew if I could put myself back in position, that I was rolling the ball well.”
His final par of the day was greeted with one last roar from those who had stayed on late into the evening, and one last clenched fist from the man of the hour.
“It would mean a lot,” Lowry said as he considered the prospect of adding a second national open to his CV, “but for this evening, I’m going to try to not think about it.
“I’m going to talk to people around me, have a nice evening, hopefully get some sleep, and get out there tomorrow afternoon.
“Hopefully the crowd gets on my side, and I can put on a good show for them again, and shoot a good score, and do what I’m supposed to do.”
Written by Niall Kelly and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
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