Shane Lowry will park his friendship with Sepp Straka once again when the pair tee off in the final round of the Truist Championship sharing the lead at Philadelphia Cricket Club.
Lowry carded a moving day three-under 67 to jump alongside Straka at the summit on fourteen-under and the former Ryder Cup partners will reacquaint themselves with each other in a final group again having done so in Pebble Beach earlier this year.
“I’m playing with a good friend of mine in Sepp, my Ryder Cup partner so that will be good fun. The last time I played with Sepp was in the final group with Rory and watched him win so hopefully one of us can get the job done,” said the Clara man who is three shots ahead of Justin Thomas and Keith Mitchell and five clear of Hideki Matsuyama.
Lowry, teeing off one shot off the pace, started with a brace of birdies before carding his first bogey of the day on the seventh.
Back to back birdies on the 9th and 10th restored his momentum and he recovered from a bogey on 12 with a crucial birdies on the par-4 17th after spinning a wedge to a couple of feet to draw level with Straka at the top.
Since winning the Open in 2019, his last official individual PGA Tour win, Lowry has failed to convert five 54-hole leads but he hopes Sunday will finally go his way as he looks for his first individual worldwide win since the 2022 BMW PGA Championship on the DP World Tour.
“This is a tough game and a tough tour and it’s hard to win out here. You have to keep putting yourself in position week after week and do your best. I’m going out here tomorrow to do my best,” Lowry added.
“I just think you need to be persistent. You need to keep putting yourself there, and eventually it will happen. You look at Rory at the Masters a few weeks ago.
“Keep knocking on the door, and eventually you’ll go through it. I feel like I’ve done a good job of it this season, last season. It does get frustrating sometimes, but yeah, I’m in the final group tomorrow.
“I’ve played pretty good golf this year. I’m pretty happy with the way I’m playing this week, and I’m going to go out and give my best. If it’s good tomorrow, that will be great.”
Lowry has missed just three cuts since the 2023 Irish Open at the K Club including just one this year on his first start of the season. With that form has come remarkable consistency that has seen him make the Tour Championship for the first time last season and reach a career high 12th in the Official World Golf Rankings this season.
All that is missing is a win.
“I feel like I’ve been like this for the past couple years, year and a half really. Since Ryder Cup in Rome, I feel like I’ve kicked on a little bit, and I’ve been quite mature.
“I’ve worked hard, though. I’ve put a lot into it the last two years — my whole career, but particularly the last two years. I’ve worked very hard. Starting to see some rewards is good. Obviously you want trophies, and that’s going to be my number one goal tomorrow.
“If it happens tomorrow, it would be great. If it doesn’t, I’ll dust myself off and go to Quail Hollow and try my best there. Yeah, one thing’s for sure, I’ll give my best.”
Rory McIlroy is still lurking in a share of sixth place on eight-under and six off the pace after another scrappy round of 71.
The grand slam winner roared out of the blocks with three straight birdies from the fourth but he gave them all back with a double bogey and bogey on seven and eight.
A birdie on the tenth didn’t open the floodgates again and the Masters champion finished with seven successive pars.
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