Shane Lowry 'pretty happy' as he celebrates Paddy's Day with six-under at Sawgrass

Shane Lowry made eight birdies and came within inches of becoming the first player to ace the iconic 17th hole on the Stadium Course twice.

PRETTY HAPPY: Shane Lowry finished on nine-under at the Players Championship. Picture: AP Photo/John Raoux

Shane Lowry celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with a six-under 66 at Sawgrass. It could have been even better.

Lowry made eight birdies and came within inches of becoming the first player to ace the iconic 17th hole on the Stadium Course twice. His only two blemishes on the day – bogeys at 12 and 15 – were crimes of aggression as he kept attacking holes trying to go as low as possible and threaten the course-record 62 shot last year by Tom Hoge.

“Well, you’re 6-under for the day and there’s all sorts going through my head,” Lowry said of his thinking when he reached the reachable par-4 12th having climbed onto the bottom of leaderboard after his sixth birdie of the morning on 11. 

“I’m like make a two on the next and a two on the next and, God, I could win this tournament. … Yeah, I was aggressive. I went for it.” 

Lowry’s drive on 12 missed left and went into the water. He attacked the back pin on 15 and rolled over the green and failed to get up and down to save par.

“I was never going to lay up there (on 12). It was one of those bad swings, bad shot, limited damage stuff. I moved on pretty well,” he said. 

“15 was even more annoying than that to be honest, because I sort of felt like you know 15 to 18 gives you chances. Obviously, there’s a few chances for disaster as well, but I felt like if I can get to 10-under today, it will be a really nice week. 

"So that was annoying but then I birdied 16 and 17 and had a great chance at the last which just missed.” 

Lowry took dead aim at the tucked back right pin on the island 17th and it looked for a moment like he was going to make his second Sunday ace on that hole in three years. The ball slid inches below the hole and settled 3 feet away.

“God knows what I would have done if it had’a went in,” Lowry said. “It was like a perfect wedge, right on the line I wanted to hit it on. Nice to roll it in for a 2.

“It’s easier when you're 8-under and lying 30th than it is when you're in the top five with a chance to win the tournament. But you just have to keep telling yourself do the same things you’ve been doing. You’ve hit these shots a million times, just pick your target and go for it. 

"The 17th hole has been good to me the last couple of years. … It would have been nice to get another one.” 

Can you imagine?! 🍀
@ShaneLowryGolf was INCHES from his second hole-in-one on 17 @THEPLAYERS! pic.twitter.com/JU1rbUwawI

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 17, 2024

Lowry started the tied for 51st, 14 shots out of the lead, after a frustrating even-par 72 on Saturday. But with the way he’s been playing, posting a T4 and third-place finish in his last two Florida starts, Lowry still believed he had a low number in him on Sunday.

“I was quite frustrated after yesterday and then when I sit down and I look back at my stats and thought about my round and how I actually played, I was very close actually,” he said. 

“Yesterday there was a run from the ninth hole to the 15th hole where just a couple of chips and putts and all of a sudden you're three or four-under for the day and you feel like you're in the tournament even more.

“I still went out there today I feeling like I could shoot a good score. And then I holed a couple of putts early. Holed a nice one on the first and birdied the second and then I was off and running. And that's what it takes. 

"I just managed to find something on the greens today that was a lot better than yesterday and it made up for a good score.” 

All in all, Lowry left Sawgrass for a long overnight to Singapore for this week’s DP World Tour event feeling pretty good about his sustained momentum as he’s projected to move higher in the FedEx Cup standings and OWGR. He’ll take two weeks off after the Porsche Singapore Classic to prepare for the Masters.

“Yeah, I'm pretty happy,” he said of his 9-under total that was top 15 when he finished but was more likely to be top 25 at the end of the day. 

“I've managed to pick up a lot of FedEx points these last few weeks which is a bit of relief to be honest. Because the position was in, not in the big events and stuff like that. Hopefully I don't fall too much further down the leaderboard today and pick up a few more world ranking points. The top 30 gets me into all the other events. That will be nice.”