Lowry left wondering what might’ve been after RBC Heritage top-10

Shane Lowry headed into a two-week competition break wondering what might’ve been after superbly finding the Harbour Town overtaking lane on the final day of the RBC Heritage Classic at Hilton Head.

Lowry had lost ground on the leaders on Saturday’s third round ‘moving day’ in signing off for one-over par 72 but he came alive on day four ‘pay day’ with six birdies in a five-under par 66 to jump nearly 20 places and be in the clubhouse then sharing eighth place at 11-under par.

The Clara golfer got off to a great start in again taking to his favourite hole, the par-5 second, with zeal in holing a three-footer for birdie having played the hole over the four rounds in five-under, capped by the eagle ‘3’ on day two. Lowry then holed a two-footer for birdie on nine but then bogeyed 10 after finding the water down the left with his drive and two-putting from some 16-feet for the only dropped shot of his round.

It was then four birdies over the closing eight holes for the reigning Open Champion with Lowry in the right rough off the 11^th tee but finding the dance floor with his second and draining a five-footer for a birdie ‘3’.

Lowry split the fairway with a 309-yard drive at 12 to then land a 127-yard second shot to nine-foot and also walk off with a ‘3’. He pulled off the birdie of his day at the par-3 14^th, where he had gone within two inches of an ace on Friday, landing his near 200-yard tee shot 20-foot pin-high right of the flag for a birdie ‘2’.

Then to round-off his Heritage appearance on a real bright note, Lowry sent a 39-footer from behind the flag at the 17^th to the bottom of the cup to birdie both the par-3s on the inward half.

Looking back, Lowry commenced with a decent one-under par 70 and then superbly moved into contention thanks to a second round 65 but only to undo Friday’s good work with a third round one-over-par 72.

“I made probably enough birdies to win the tournament, but I just kind of made too many mistakes on Thursday and Saturday,” he said. “Overall, I’m pretty happy with the week, but I’m going to go away and think what-if with this week because I obviously shot two very good scores and I was pretty poor yesterday.

“The golf course probably at its easiest was yesterday, and I just didn’t take advantage of it. Hopefully, with a lot of golf left to be played out there, I can squeeze a top-10 out of it and it will be a nice week and a few FedExCup points and stuff like that. I’m now looking forward to two-weeks off.”

However before making his way back onto the I-95 and the some six-hour drive south to West Palm Beach, that’s if Lowry is driving, he looked back on his visit to Hilton Head and particularly after his T21st finish at Augusta National.

“I’ve done okay here in the past and I like coming here after the Masters because I feel like it’s such a chill week,” he said.

“I feel like the Masters is so stressful that you come down here, and I bring my family and it’s just nice. It’s a nice place to come, a nice place to play golf, and it’s a lovely golf course. I would argue that’s probably one of the best stops on Tour.

“I’m always going to come here, but yeah, the Masters does take a lot out of you, and I didn’t practice much this week. I played nine holes on Tuesday, and I did about an hour on Wednesday, and I was kind of just resting up as much as I could. And I made plenty of birdies this week.”

Stewart Cink won the event, closing out an impressive four shot win with a final round 70 for a 19-under par total. Cink becomes the fourth player (fifth occasion) aged 47 or older to win multiple times in a season on the PGA TOUR since 1960. The American joins Davis Love III (5) and Hale Irwin (3) with three or more victories at the RBC Heritage.

Lowry meanwhile is expected to next tee-up in the May 6-9 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow in suburban Charlotte, NC.

LOWRY’S 2020 RBC HERITAGE