Shane Lowry is like a footballer who only scores bangers. Whatever happens in his career he will have a highlight reel fit to rival anyone and he added to that today when he aced the par-3 6th with a 7-iron to become the first player to make two holes in one at Augusta National.
It gave Lowry a timely boost as he moved from six to eight-under and he managed to keep grinding on a dramatic Masters moving day to lie just two shots behind Rory McIlroy and Cameron Young on nine-under after a 68. His habit of producing iconic moments is extraordinary. He now has holes in one on the 17th at TPC Sawgrass, 7th at Pebble Beach and the 6th and 16th at Augusta National. Not to mention he has made an ace in back to back tournaments following a hole in one, also with a 7-iron, at Memorial Park two weeks ago.
“That’s wild, isn’t it? Made one a couple of weeks ago in Houston,” smiled the Offaly man. “You don’t ever expect to make a hole-in-one. I just couldn’t believe it. Obviously, you know, you’re out there, and you’re in the hunt at the Masters and you’re making hole-in-one, it’s pretty cool.
“The walk down the sixth hole with everyone around 16 and the 6th was very special. I’ll remember that for a while. Yeah, it was obviously amazing. Maybe I’m just good,” he chuckled.
Starting the day seven shots off the pace, Lowry didn’t expect to end up within two of the lead. But it was another stellar performance from the 2019 Open champion who birdied the par-5 2nd and settled down from his hole in one to par the 7th and birdie the par-5 8th. He slipped up with a short par miss on the 9th but regained momentum with a birdie on 10 while a bogey on 11 was no disaster from the trees.
“I felt like I did a great job of calming myself down afterwards. Myself and Neil have talked about during the week about the only shot that matters is the next one. I hit a great tee shot on seven, and I was very happy and proud of that one, because it’s easy to get a bit flustered in areas like that. Your adrenaline is pumping. So, yeah, I was happy with that.”
He rallied again to birdie the par-4 14th and made a crucial par save on the par-5 15th after his second shot, which he was aiming to land in the green side bunker, trickled into the water. He also holed out from six-feet on 16 and made steady pars on 17 and 18 to get into the penultimate group with Sam Burns who is ten-under after a 68 of his own.
“I’ve said to certain pins that I would take that bunker all day in two, and that’s where I was trying to hit. I wasn’t trying to hit it on the green. I was trying to hit it in the bunker because that bunker is far easier than the wedge shot from short.
“I hit it and looked away like I thought it was the middle of the bunker and couldn’t believe when I heard a big of an “ah.” I didn’t know if it was short or not because it wasn’t too big of a sigh from the crowd. Maybe they were happy.
“I thought I did a great job of, like, calming myself down and just hitting the next shot. I got that up-and-down, that was huge. That was huge. Then on 16, I holed, what, like a 6-footer for par on 16 as well. So that was really nice the last few holes. I played the last two holes lovely.
“I thought if Rory could shoot a 68 today he might run away with the tournament. The course, they made it a bit more gettable today. I noticed on TV this morning the greens were softer than they were yesterday.”
As it stands, McIlroy and Young share the lead on eleven-under with Burns (-10) and Lowry (-9) tucked in behind but five shots separates eleven players including world number one and two-time Masters winner Scottie Scheffler who shot an early 65 which aged like a fine wine as the afternoon went on and he is just four back on seven-under.
“I saw Scottie was making a run,” said Lowry who admitted to monitoring the leaderboard throughout the round. “You know as probably everyone expected. He’s going to have a chance tomorrow as well. It’s pretty good leaderboard, so it’s going to be pretty hard to win this tournament tomorrow, but I’ll give it my best.”
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