In an irony of all ironies, Shane Lowry left himself a birdie putt he could not miss on the 18th on a day where the flat stick completely deserted him as his chances of a first win since 2022 took a blow at the Memorial Tournament.
Lowry averaged two putts per green and of the 57 players who made the cut at Muirfield Village he was 54th in strokes gained putting as he signed for a gut wrenching round of 73 to share 7th place on two-under and six shots behind Scottie Scheffler.
Statistics that are all the more frustrating given that the Offaly man leads the field in strokes gained approach to the green for the week and was top of that category in rounds one and three.
But it’s been the same old story for Lowry, another profligate day on the greens has seen him leave the golf course without getting the most out of his round.
Seven opening pars were arrested by a dropped shot on the par-3 8th. He did hole from 17 feet for par on eleven but a good birdie chance went begging on 12.
A sloppy three-putt bogey on 13 was followed by an equally clumsy bogey on 14 from the middle of the fairway.
A birdie on 15 steadied affairs and despite missing another short birdie opportunity on the 17th Lowry took dead aim from 158 yards on 18 to leave himself a tap in from seven inches.
While Lowry let things get away from him, Scheffler, who was having a similarly poor day on the greens, managed to stay patient and he was rewarded late in the day as thirteen straight pars were ended by four birdies in his last five holes as he took a stranglehold on this tournament with a 68 to lead by one on eight-under.
“I thought I was doing pretty good,” Scheffler said. “Around this golf course even par, I think, today would have been a pretty solid score. Like I said, I felt like I could have gotten a little bit more out of the round, but I felt like I was playing nice and just a couple lips here and there would have changed the score a little bit, but overall, I felt like I was doing good stuff. I didn’t feel like I needed to change much.”
The defending champion has gone from the hunter to the hunted and he will try to hold off 36-hole leader Ben Griffin as he looks to become the first person since Tiger Woods to win back to back Memorials.
“It would be nice, but at the end of the day last year’s tournament is last year’s tournament, it doesn’t matter going into this year. Got an opportunity tomorrow to have a good round and hopefully win the tournament, and I’ll be focused on the first tee and just trying to get that ball in play and going from there.”
Griffin stormed four shots clear on ten-under – and six clear of Scheffler – after birdies on the 6th, 7th and 8th holes but fluttered them away on the next four holes.
His run of bogeys was stopped by a crucial par on 13 and he regained the lead with birdies on 14 and 15 but a bogey at the last after Scheffler’s stunning finish dropped him out of top spot and into second on seven-under.
Nick Taylor is solo third on five-under while Sepp Straka, Jordan Spieth and Keegan Bradley will need low rounds to threaten from three-under.
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