Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington on rise but Shane Lowry suffers at US PGA
ON THE UP: Rory McIlroy has been playing some superb golf at the season's second Major.
With two of his closest friends in the game getting a good bit more joy out of the place, Shane Lowry completed his third round at the PGA Championship in Philadelphia and had plenty to think through.
His Saturday morning scorecard showed a 70, technically even par around Aronimink Golf Club. But there wasn’t much even in a rocky road of a round which featured five birdies, five bogeys and eight pars. Wrapped up a full two hours before the leaders would go out, Lowry found himself not far off where he started — in a tie for 69th.
Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy were making significantly more hay before some forecast afternoon winds might begin to swirl as a bunched leaderboard, initially at least, stayed that way despite the better scoring conditions.
Lowry was among the earliest starters on Saturday morning at the year’s second major having made the cut on the number with a birdie on the last on Friday. The greens, which had befuddled so many in the second round, appeared to be giving a little more back as the weekend began, the course definitely feeling a but more gettable.
But Lowry struggled to make his moving day live up to that moniker.
A bunkered drive on the second led to his first bogey of the round but a nice approach to the sixth left him with a 12-footer which he rolled in for birdie. Around the turn things got very up and down as the Offaly man went seven holes without a par. From the eighth through to the 14th the sequence went as follows: bogey, birdie, birdie, bogey, bogey, birdie, birdie.
The last of those was perhaps his standout shot of the round, a gorgeous escape out of bunker to the left of the green on the par-3 14th. Lowry had an awkward stance and not much room to manoeuvre but scooped a delightful chip up out of the sand and sent it on its merry way to the hole. When it dropped he looked to the skies and thanked someone up there for a small bit of mercy.
Shane Lowry making bunker play look easy. 👏#PGAChamp | @ShaneLowryGolf pic.twitter.com/G2oFVb5l97
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 16, 2026
Having found ignominy on the 17th on Friday when his tee shot went all wrong and bombed into the water, Aronimink’s penultimate hole had more misfortune waiting for Lowry when he found the back fringe and struggled with his chip out, a two-putt bogey leaving him on level par for the round and 4-over overall.
A little further back, Harrington meantime was thoroughly enjoying himself and rolling back the years as he carded a sparkling 3-under 67 to move into a tie for 35th with plenty of golf still to be played.
The 54-year-old, who lifted the Wanamaker in 2009 at Oakland Hills, started strong and rarely looked back, finding a birdie on the first and two more before making the turn in 32. A lone bogey of the day arrived on the short 14th but he bounced back immediate with a birdie three on the 15th.
Having savoured his second-round improvements, McIlroy said on Friday night that he felt like he’d put himself “right back in the tournament”. Out with Brooks Koepka for an 11am tee time, the Masters champion quickly set about improving that position again.
Like Harrington, McIlroy birdied the opening hole and didn’t let a frustrating bogey on the fourth get to him as he found back-to-back birdies on the next two and pulled within three of the lead with another on the long ninth. McIlroy made the turn in 32 and was giving the inexperienced overnight front-running duo of Mac McNealy and Alex Smalley plenty to think about.
Chris Kirk, who joined the leaders on 4-under, Justin Rose, Sam Burns and Xander Schauffele were all finding some scoring as the temperatures increased and the last dozen or so pairings got ready to head out.
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