Shane Lowry faced a slippery eight-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole that would’ve taken him into a share of second on the leaderboard, but he misjudges the break and watched it slide by. Three holes later, he’d finished bogey-bogey to slip back to -5 and he goes into the final round tied for sixth.
He’d gotten off to an ideal start, making birdies on two and three after almost holing a chip shot on the first, but he gave a shot back on the par-3 fourth after missing the green short right. He made amends on the sixth with a sublime long iron to the back pin that came to rest two-and-a-half feet short but right on line.
A poor tee shot on nine forced him to attempt to punch a low cut to the green, and he came desperately close to pulling it off, but he needed to be a yard further right and caught the front bunker. More misfortune was to follow as his long bunker shot landed past the back pin but spun back and almost came to rest on the top tier before trundling back almost 40 feet, resulting in bogey.
Birdie chances came and went on each of the three legs of Amen Corner as good putts refused to drop, but he moved back to -2 on the day with an excellently controlled wedge to 14 and subsequent 10-footer.
Channeling good memories on No. 14, Shane Lowry makes birdie and moves into a tie for third. #themasters pic.twitter.com/Nhnzvu62EE
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 12, 2025
After missing the aforementioned birdie putt on 15, he produced a sublime par save on 16 after finding the greenside bunker off the tee. An imaginative splash out up the hill had him moving right and urging the ball to drop as it came back down the slope and had a look at the hole before coming to rest eight feet past, but his frustrations began to show when a rapid three-footer lipped out on 17 dropping him back to -6 and he short-sided himself in the greenside bunker on 18, and caught his shot a little thin, leaving himself 29 feet across the green.
Two putts later, he was signing for a level-par 72 that leaves him trailing close friend Rory McIlroy by seven going into the final round.
“Yeah, I felt like I let a really good day go there at the end, so I’m obviously disappointed,” he told the press afterwards. “But just have to pick myself up and get some rest tonight and get after it tomorrow.
“Late tee time here on Sunday, obviously a few back from the leader but, I’m in a nice position and things can happen around here.”
He frustration was palpable.
“I just want to do as best I can,” he said. “I hated that short putt on 17. The very minute I get up there, that pin is just horrible. I just hit it too hard and tried to jam it in the hole and then just hit two poor drives.
“Driver didn’t feel comfortable today. Yeah, it was hard. It was hard out there. But it was great fun at the same time.
“It’s where you want to be. It’s what you want to do. It’s what you live for. But I want to win this tournament, so I’m pissed off.”
Despite the disappointing finish, he can take solace in the fast start he made to the third round and knows that if he gets off to a similar start to the final round and keeps the foot down, he’s not out of it yet.
“I got off to a great start,” he said. “There was an unbelievable atmosphere out there. Rory obviously was playing good behind and the roars, you had to stand off it a little bit, wait for those to happen, wait for him to get the shots.
“But I’ve been around the block long enough to know that I need to do that. I felt like I did a good job. It’s just a very unfortunate finish. I’m very disappointed. But that’s this game.
“If I play the way I can play, I’ll be there or thereabouts tomorrow.”
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