Lowry marvels at Hoge's Sawgrass history but wishes it was him

Offaly native's third-round 68 lifts him 18 places after narrowly making cut as playing partner Hoge sets a new low score

HANGING TOUGH: Shane Lowry, of Ireland, reacts after hitting his drive on the fourth hole at the Players Championship golf tournament. Pic: AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Shane Lowry went from starting to pack his bags to head home to witnessing history at the Players Championship on Saturday.

Conditions were perfect for someone taking a run at the Stadium Course scoring record in Saturday’s third round. Lowry only wishes it had been him that set it instead of playing partner Tom Hoge.

“It was quite easy out there today,” Lowry said after his 4-under 68 lifted him 18 places to T47. “Taking nothing away from Tom, but my 4-under doesn’t feel great.

“I know where I am on the leaderboard and I knew I needed 6- or 7-(under) to make a dent in that and I didn’t do it. I played nicely today, pretty happy. I just didn’t really hole anything again. It was nice to hole that one at the last.” 

Playing with Justin Thomas – who won the 2021 Players after barely making the cut – and Hoge, it was imperative to go low in absolutely ideal scoring conditions with no wind and a course softened considerably by overnight rain that caused a suspension of play Friday.

Lowry started birdie-birdie on 10 and 11 but lost his momentum with consecutive bogeys on 14 and 15. He collected four birdies the rest of the way, but missed some chances including a 5-footer on 17.

Hoge, meanwhile, put together the round Lowry was hoping for. He made 10 birdies in what seemed like an effortless march to the course record. Lowry said it could have been even better.

“He hit it to 10 feet on 11 and 12 for eagles and missed both of them,” Lowry said of Hoge’s chances that were officially 13 and 7 feet, respectively. “But after that he didn’t really miss much. He’s gonna have somewhat of a chance tomorrow.” 

Lowry’s too far back to contend but hopes a sterner test on Sunday can favor him.

“Hopefully it’s a little bit harder tomorrow and I can go out and move up the leaderboard a little bit,” he said. “Shoot the best score I can. FedEx Cup points all mean something at the end of the year and hopefully I can go out and get as many as I can.” 

That he’s still playing at all is a bonus after the stoppage of play Friday nearly scuttled his hopes of making the cut. Stalled at T67 for two hours Saturday, he was preparing to head home.

“To be honest, I was gonna go pack my suitcase at 9 o’clock and then a couple of players made doubles to give us a chance,” Lowry said. “So I said to myself around 9:30 I better go get ready to play and came out here. Obviously, Eric Cole had a chance on the last to make birdie but it was 40 feet. If he had a holed that it would have been a big disappointment. It just goes to show you. It was nice to make it and nice to shoot a decent score.”