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05/18 18:06 CDT Shane Lowry ties a major championship record by shooting a
9-under 62 to get into the mix at the PGA
Shane Lowry ties a major championship record by shooting a 9-under 62 to get
into the mix at the PGA
By WILL GRAVES
AP National Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) --- Shane Lowry switched putters in New Orleans last
month, frustrated by what was happening on the greens.
Or not happening, to be more specific.
The immediate returns were pretty blah. Lowry and fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy
teamed up for a narrow victory at the two-man team event, a win Lowry figures
might have been more comfortable if the new putter had cooperated.
Still, Lowry stuck with it, figuring the problem wasn't with the equipment but
his approach. He moved away from focusing on the technical aspect of things
ahead of the PGA Championship and put more emphasis on feel and confidence.
The result was one of the best rounds in the history of major championship golf.
Lowry tied a record by firing a 9-under 62 at a very gettable Valhalla on
Saturday, zooming up the leaderboard thanks to four-plus hours of near-flawless
putting.
The 37-year-old Irishman recorded nine birdies --- six of them on putts of 13
feet or longer --- against no bogeys to move to 13-under and put himself in the
mix for a second major title to join his breakthrough triumph in the British
Open back home at Royal Portrush in 2019.
Lowry enters Sunday two shots back of co-leaders Xander Schauffele and Collin
Morikawa.
As strange as it sounds, Lowry knows he had a chance to even lower. He parred
both the par-5s on the back nine, including the 18th, which had been playing as
the easiest of the day.
He pushed his tee shot into the right rough, punched out into the fairway then
hit his approach to 11 feet. As he stood over the birdie attempt, Lowry knew he
had a chance at 61, something no player had done in over a century of major
championship play.
Not at the British or U.S. Opens. Not at the Masters. Not at the PGA.
If anything, he wanted the ball to fall a little too much. And when it drifted
just left of the hole, he closed his eyes and squeezed the club that had served
him so well all day.
"Probably the most disappointed anyone can ever be shooting 62," Lowry said
with a smile. "I knew what was at stake."
Instead, Lowry had to settle --- as strange as that sounds --- for matching the
four previous 62s in majors, the latest by Schauffele during Thursday's opening
round.
"It would have been a pretty cool moment to kind of seal the deal and (shoot
61)," Lowry said. "But at the end of the day, I knew even if I didn't do it
that I done what I needed to do today, and I'm pretty happy with that."
He had a sense a performance like this was coming, even after he began the
tournament with two relatively blah 2-over 69s that he called "the worst I've
played in a long time."
A range session with coach Neil Manchip late Friday afternoon helped Lowry
address an alignment problem. Lowry had been setting up too far left, a flaw
that can open the door to "all sorts of bad things."
When Lowry arrived at the course on Saturday, he figured it would take a
6-under 65 to post a credible threat on Sunday.
Then he drained a 14-foot birdie on the par-4 second. And another from 13 feet
on the par-3 third. And another from 19 feet on the par-4 fourth. And yet
another from 6 feet on the par-4 fifth. He two-putted from 61 feet for an eagle
on the par-5 seventh. And rolled in a 17-footer on the ninth to post the
first-ever 29 in four PGAs at Valhalla.
The closest Lowry came to a mistake was at the par-5 10th. His second shot
plugged in a front greenside bunker. He blasted out into the rough but got up
and down for par.
Two more long birdie putts --- bombs from 37 feet on the par-4 13th and 32 feet
on the par-3 14th --- kept the momentum going. A brilliant approach to 6 feet
on the 17th led to his ninth birdie and put him on the cusp of history.
Yet Lowry has learned plenty about what it takes to win majors. When he pushed
his drive on the 18th into the rough, he had two options: punch out or try to
carry it toward the green.
Rather than get greedy, he backed off, more concerned about protecting his
position.
"I knew if I made (par) that I'm still in the tournament," he said. "If I made
(bogey), I'd be livid with myself. I felt like it was probably a bit too risky
to take on."
Instead, Lowry ended up sharing a record that's becoming commonplace. Four of
the five 62s shot in a major have come in the last 12 months, the last by a
player who feels like a threat as the final round looms.
"I've sort of felt all season that if I could warm my putter up, that I could
be dangerous," Lowry said.
And he is.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
