Shane Lowry will be just three back going into the final round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship after a six-under 66 on moving day saw him storm up the leaderboard at Yas Links.
Slow starts have been an issue for the Offaly man on days one and two and he was a combined one-over for holes one-to-four, but that all changed in round three and he drained a 36-footer for an eagle-three on the second and followed up with further birdies on four, five, seven and nine to cover the front side in 30 strokes.
He couldn’t keep up the momentum on the back side, however, and a run of seven straight pars was punctured with a bogey at the par-3 17th after he found the greenside bunker off the tee and was a touch heavy-handed with his blast out.
He made amends on the last though, and a sublime 70-yard bunker shot set up a 25-footer that he rolled dead centre to move back to -15 and he’ll find himself in the final threeball on Sunday.
“Just to be honest, the first two days, I got off to a really average start,” he said. “So just get off to a better start today, and I did. I kind of kicked on on the front nine and then got a bit stale on the back nine.
“I’m happy with my score. It doesn’t seem like the leaders are going that far away, and you know, they are about to turn for home, 15 in is not playing that easy.
“So yeah, I think I’ll be within touching distance going into tomorrow, and if I can fire a low one tomorrow, I can be there or thereabouts.”
You have to go back to mid-August for the last tournament that Lowry’s played where he’s been outside the top 15, and he feels that his game is in excellent condition after recharging the batteries with a month off.
“My game, like, I’ve been driving the ball really good,” he explained. “My iron play has been great. You know, I probably haven’t been holing as many putts as I would like.
“I feel like I’m putting all right, hitting good putts, not missing the shorter ones. And I feel like, yeah, a few putts drop, I can be dangerous.
“In saying that, I’ve 12 new clubs in the bag this week. I have a new driver and new set of irons. What’s going on before me, I haven’t really thought about. I’ve just been trying to get used to this, and it’s going very well so far. Hopefully it keeps going that way.”
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