‘It was so much fun’: Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry charge into PGA Championship top-five

"It was one of the best days I've had on the golf course."

Sun, 23 May, 2021 - 22:32

It wasn’t quite the bonkers show that Phil Mickelson and Brooks Koepka were putting on in the last group of the day, but a couple of Irishman provided an entertaining warm-up act on Sunday at the PGA Championship.

Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry played together two-and-a-half hours in front of the headliners and went on their own wild ride up the leaderboard in the changing winds that swept from the opposite direction on the Ocean Course en route to a share of the clubhouse lead.

“I’m very happy that I felt like I competed on a level with everybody else this week,” Harrington said. “We both left a few out there today.”

Harrington, who will turn 50 himself at the end of August, had an eagle, three birdies, and two bogeys in a front-nine 33. With another birdie on the par-3 14th hole, he climbed as high as tied fifth on the leaderboard – leaving him to rue the strokes he threw away on his second nine on Friday.

Lowry, hoping to impress the European Ryder Cup captain, only made two pars himself on the front nine (the first at the seventh) with four birdies and three bogeys. He caught up with Harrington with a birdie on the par-5 16th hole.

Lowry missed a 6-footer for birdie on 18 while Harrington saved par and together they walked off the golf course T5 with rounds of 3-under 69 and a share of the clubhouse lead at 2-under. They started the day tied 23rd at 1-over.

“When Paddy chipped in on 14, I was like, ‘Ooh, Paddy has got a chance here,’” Lowry said.

I was kind of trying to cheer him on and play my own game, but honestly playing with Paddy today was one of the best rounds of golf I've ever had. It was so much fun. The two of us had that coming off, we're obviously grinding it out to beat each other and trying to do well in the tournament, and it's just – it was one of the best days I've had on the golf course. I played lovely golf again and very happy going into my week off now.”

Both players, however, left Kiawah wondering what might have been.

“I went away from the Masters like this, just a little bit more so this week, I'm going to go away from this weekend feeling ‘What if?’” Lowry said.

“But that's a great feeling to have, feeling like I was close to having a great chance this week. I don't know what the leaders are going to do on the way in, but I think even 4- or 5-under might have some sort of a sniff if you finish on that.”

On Friday, when Harrington frittered away four or five strokes finishing up on the front side of the course, Harrington said “winning is the only thing that will bring any satisfaction to myself”. He was softer on himself Sunday.

“I can't be disappointed,” Harrington said. “Yes, I left shots out there and I will look back at particularly Friday and today as potential for lots of shots. But this isn't my tournament. I don't feel like it was my tournament.

“Sometimes you're playing a tournament and you feel like you let one slip away. No matter what happens today, even if the lead finishes 7, yes I could have gotten to 7 but everything would have had to happen.

“I don't have any regrets about this. I'm more about walking away from this thinking my physical golf game is good enough.”

Playing with each other brought out the best in both of them.

“I will say, that was probably my most enjoyable round of golf I've had on the golf course in a long time,” Harrington said.

“It's amazing when you play with a friend, it definitely helped both of us relax and just play golf and both of us played really well. We both could have been quite a few shots better.

“And I will rue a little bit later on. You never know what's going to win this tournament, but I will sit down afterwards and go, you know, there's no doubt I left three or four shots out there.

“I was a little bit jittery on the greens and just didn't run my putts at the hole like I would like to, but yeah, it was nice and it was nice to just do an interview there where it's been a long time since I've been interviewed and been asked about my golf rather than the Ryder Cup.”

Lowry’s regrets came from the opening round when he hit the ball beautifully and gave him himself repeated opportunities inside of 10 feet only to come away with a 1-under 71. Between that and a bad break on the 17th hole that led to a double and kept him from being “a couple under anyway, and I should be right in the tournament”.

Harrington confirmed that despite his performance this week on a waterfront Pete Dye golf course, he has no intention of considering himself for being a playing captain on another waterfront Dye course at Whistling Straits in September’s Ryder Cup.

“I’m way too long in the tooth,” he said. “I’m focused on being the captain. You can’t do both.”

Lowry continues to trend upward as he moves toward his defence at the Open Championship in July at Royal St Georges. He’s posted his career-best finishes at the Players Championship (eighth), Masters (21st), and now potentially improved on his previous best finish of T8 in the PGA Championship.