Shane Lowry will sleep on a second successive 54-hole lead after two birdies in his last three holes saw him edge alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.
A tap in birdie on 16 and a 32-foot birdie on 17 helped Lowry to nine-under-par before a closing par saw him sign for a battling 70 and set up a Sunday tee time with Scheffler.
“Look, these are the reasons you get up out of bed in the morning, to get out and compete against the best players in the world,” Lowry said of playing in the final group with Scheffler.
“Yeah, I’m excited, I’m looking forward to it. I’m just going to go out and do my thing and, look, two weeks in a row in the final group on Sunday, hopefully I can do a better job than I did last Sunday. Regardless of what happens tomorrow, I think it’s great progress for me over the last few weeks. Got great stretch of tournaments coming up, it’s nice to be playing some good golf.”
After another bogey on the 2nd hole, the Clara man rallied with birdies on both par fives 4 and 6, before he fell five shots off the pace after sloppy bogeys on 8 and 9.
Lowry rallied again with back-to-back birdies on 11 and 12 before recovering from a clumsy dropped shot on 14 with two late birdies to keep his hopes of a first win since the 2022 BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth alive.
“I obviously holed a nice one on 17, but I didn’t feel that comfortable with it all day. It’s hard out there. You’re leaving those 25-footers for birdie, you’re just trying to get it dead, because those 4-footers on those greens are quite difficult, especially when it’s windy.
“I always say, when you play in windy conditions, the hardest part of it is putting. Certainly it was today. I felt like I hit a lot of good putts today, I felt like I burned the edge a lot. Then, at the end, it was just great to hole that one on 17. I was pretty happy with that. I felt like I was going to hole the one on 18 as well, but all-in-all I’m very happy with my day’s work.”
Playing in his first Signature Event of the season having received a sponsor’s invite last week, Lowry is the first player to hold a 54-hole lead/co-lead in consecutive weeks cine Lucas Glover last year. Lowry could also be set for his first wire-to-wire victory on the PGA Tour.
“It’s my first one, so I’m doing a good job of taking advantage of my invite this week so far. Hopefully, I can keep going.”
US Open champion Wyndham Clark is one shot off the pace on eight-under after a rollercoaster round that included double bogeys on the 1st and 9th as well as a bogey on 18 that saw him fall out of the lead.
Will Zalatoris saw a five-shot lead disappear on the back nine as he finished with two double bogeys in his last four holes to drop to seven-under-par alongside Russell Henley and Hideki Matsuyama while Harris English is a shot further back.
It was also a very good day for Rory McIlroy whose career low back nine of 30 at Bay Hill moved him into the top-10 on five-under and just four shots off the lead.
“Then the 3 on 10, the tee shot onto the green there, that sort of got me going a little bit,” said the Holywood man who is looking for his second win at Bay Hill.
“Then I made a great par save on 11 after driving it in the water. And those holes in particular, 10 and 11, sort of got me going. There is some chances coming in. 12’s a good birdie chance, par-5. 16 as well. But obviously played those last few holes really nicely, and, again, second day in a row where I’ve actually putted really, really nicely, which is good to see.”
Seamus Power moved into the top-25 on one-under after a round of 68.
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