I’ll have that to go, please.
Shane Lowry finished the opening day of the US Open, at Pebble Beach, 10 shots back from pace-setter Justin Rose.
The Offaly native arrived, like Rory McIlroy, from the Canadian open in good form. Lowry had tied for second at that event but finished seven shots back from McIlroy, the winner.
After day one at the third Major of the year, Lowry had shot a 75 and was seven shots behind McIlroy again, after his friend carded 68.
The following three days were much better for Lowry and though he dropped shots along the way, there were much more highs than lows. The 32-year-old hit a 69 on day two and made the cut with nothing to spare.
He climbed to +1 after a third round of 70 and went out early on Sunday, determined to climb as high as possible. The first five holes saw him give a shot back to the golfing gods and slip to +2 but his round improved markedly from there.
He birdied the par-five 6th then pulled off one of the best approaches of the day on the par-three 7th:
That six-foot birdie putt had Lowry back in the red and he birdied the 9th too before bogeys on 10 and 11 stalled his momentum.
Sitting at +1 with two to play, he found the wrong side of the ‘figure 8’ shaped 17th green and – like US Open champion Gary Woodland – got out the wedge to chip from the putting surface.
While Woodland’s 64-degree wedge shot was a beauty, and effectively sealed his first ever Major, Lowry trumped him by sinking his effort for birdie.
TV viewers were denied seeing this as it unfolded but Jeffrey Standley was in prime position to capture the magic.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Byy6YVOi2Ki/?utm_source=ig_embed
Incredible stuff from the Clara native.
Buoyed by that shot, Shane Lowry birdied the 18th to card 69 and finish his tournament at -1, and tied for 28th.
That result was enough to climb a place to 31 in the world rankings, just two back from Jordan Spieth and closing in on both Patrick Reed (25th) and Phil Mickelson (26th).
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