Shane Lowry: 'I felt like I did a lot of good things and my attitude was great'

Shane Lowry of Ireland follows through on his drive off the 18th hole during the second round of The Players Championship golf tournament Friday, March 13, 2026, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Two birdies in his last three holes saw Shane Lowry finish in a tie for fourth after a terrific second round at Augusta National.

Defending Masters champion Rory McIlroy thrilled the course with a seven-under-par 65 to move to a 12-under-par lead. It is the biggest 36 hole lead in Masters history. He is now firmly in the hunt to become the first player to successfully defend the title since Tiger Woods in 2002.

McIlroy leads by six strokes from Sam Burns and 2018 champion Patrick Reed. Lowry shares the next spot with the English duo Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood.

“Look, I'm in a nice position,” said Lowry.

“I played well today. I felt like I did a lot of good things and my attitude was great. So I am very, very happy. If you give me this position yesterday morning, I would have taken your hand off. To be kind of in the mix going into the weekend around here is nice, so I'm looking forward to it.” 

The weather was roasting in Augusta and temperatures are set to continue to rise over the weekend.

“We're very lucky it is not windy,” he said.

“The wind is kind of light and switching a lot, and it is hard to gauge it. You need to be so precise out there that, you know, whether it is flicking two or three yards downwind or into the wind makes a lot of difference.

So it is tricky, but, as we've seen, there is some good scores out there, but there is also some mistakes out there if you get on the wrong side of some of those pin positions.” 

The 2019 Open champion is in the third-last group on Saturday with Tommy Fleetwood. They will tee off at 7.28pm Irish time. McIlroy plays with Sam Burns in the final group at 7.50pm Irish time.

“Obviously it is a long way to go," said Lowry. "But yeah, I have a late tee time on Saturday afternoon is always a nice place to be in.”