{"id":1312640,"date":"2019-07-20T20:44:01","date_gmt":"2019-07-21T02:44:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/shane-lowry-builds-4-shot-lead-in-british-open\/"},"modified":"2019-07-20T20:44:01","modified_gmt":"2019-07-21T02:44:01","slug":"shane-lowry-builds-4-shot-lead-in-british-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/shane-lowry-builds-4-shot-lead-in-british-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Shane Lowry builds 4-shot lead in British Open"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Ireland’s Shane Lowry tees off on the 5th hole during the third round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Saturday, July 20, 2019.(AP Photo\/Peter Morrison)<\/strong>
AP | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland \u2014 The noise was unlike anything Shane Lowry had ever heard on a golf course, no surprise at the first British Open in these parts in 68 years and an Irishman atop the leaderboard at Royal Portrush.<\/p>\n

Lowry didn\u2019t get rattled Saturday. He only got better.<\/p>\n

Two straight birdies around the turn to take the lead. Three straight birdies near the end to pull away. An 8-under 63 for his lowest round in a major. A stunning back nine that gave him the 54-hole record in the British Open. A four-shot lead going into the final round.<\/p>\n

Walking off the 17th tee, Lowry turned to his caddie and said, \u201cWe might never have a day like this on the golf course again, so let\u2019s enjoy this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, that\u2019s the most incredible day I\u2019ve ever had on the golf course,\u201d Lowry said. \u201cI just can\u2019t believe what it was like.\u201d<\/p>\n

It can get a lot better, starting with his name etched on the base of that silver claret jug.<\/p>\n

Lowry wasn\u2019t willing to look that far ahead, not with a forecast so dire the R&A moved up the starting times Sunday in an effort to avoid the worst of the heavy rain and 35 mph gusts in the forecast.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no point in saying to go out and enjoy myself tomorrow because it\u2019s going to be a very stressful and very difficult day,\u201d Lowry said. \u201cI\u2019m going to take the bad shots on the chin and I\u2019m going to take the good shots and try to capitalize on that. I\u2019m just going to be myself and play my game and see where it leaves me.\u201d<\/p>\n

He took a big step with a 30 on the back nine to break away from the pack for a four-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood, who had a bogey-free 66 and still lost ground. J.B. Holmes, who shared the 36-hole lead with Lowry, couldn\u2019t keep up. No one could.<\/p>\n

Holmes had two straight bogeys on the back nine, didn\u2019t make as many putts as the opening two rounds, but otherwise was solid for a 69.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t like it was terrible,\u201d Holmes said. \u201cBut when you\u2019re playing with a guy making everything, it feels like you shot a million.\u201d<\/p>\n

The return of golf\u2019s oldest championship to Northern Ireland no longer had favorite son Rory McIlroy. Lowry filled the void just fine.<\/p>\n

He was teammates with McIlroy for Irish golf when they won the European Amateur Championship in 2007. Lowry didn\u2019t mind when all the attention was showered on the trio of Ulstermen \u2014 McIlroy, Graeme McDowell and Darren Clarke \u2014 as Northern Ireland embraced such a special week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guys are from here. I grew up four hours away,\u201d Lowry said. \u201cI felt like I could come here and come under the radar. I\u2019m not quite under the radar anymore. I didn\u2019t feel like a forgotten Irishman. But hopefully, I\u2019m the one they\u2019re talking about tomorrow evening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lowry was at 16-under 197, breaking by one the 54-hole record set by Tom Lehman in 1996 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.<\/p>\n

Sunday\u2019s weather had everyone talking at the end of the day. There\u2019s also the chance of an internal storm brewing in Lowry. He chuckled when he looked up at the scoreboard on the 18th green to see his lead at four shots, knowing Oakmont would be brought up.<\/p>\n

Lowry also had a four-shot lead going into the final round of the 2016 U.S. Open. He closed with a 76 as Dustin Johnson rallied for his only major. The pressure figures to be even greater this time around as he goes for a silver jug on the Emerald Isle.<\/p>\n

Lowry says he learned from that day, how to hang in until the very end. He has matured. He has a family. And he wants to embrace the moment because \u201cwho knows when I\u2019ll be in this position again? It\u2019s taken me three years to get back here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fleetwood had his share of support, hugely popular for his long hair flowing out of his cap and his easy nature. He was at 12-under 201, has made only two bogeys through 54 holes and still has to make up a four-shot deficit.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to look at it realistically,\u201d he said. \u201cI had a great day today. I had one of the best rounds of the day and I was bogey-free. Shane just played great and I\u2019m four back. But that\u2019s it. I\u2019m just happy with how I played.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still on the fringe of contention was Brooks Koepka, a familiar face in the majors. The PGA champion \u2014 a winner in three of the last six majors \u2014 he couldn\u2019t get enough putts to fall and still managed a 67. He was seven shots behind, along with Justin Rose (68).<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve hit it as good as I could possibly imagine. I putted the worst in the entire field,\u201d Koepka said. \u201cIt\u2019s been really bad. Very frustrating. Disappointed. But thankfully, it\u2019s going to blow tomorrow to have any sort of chance. I need to figure out the putter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koepka wasn\u2019t about to concede anything at Portrush, regardless of the weather. He had a seven-shot lead at Bethpage Black in the PGA Championship, saw the lead shrink to one in a matter of four holes, and won by two.<\/p>\n

Rose thought he had done just enough to stay in range. When he finished, Lowry was starting to roll.<\/p>\n

The final hour was masterful.<\/p>\n

The pin was back right on the par-3 16th known as \u201cCalamity Corner\u201d because it drops off some 50 feet right of the green. Lowry sent his 4-iron right at the flag and onto the green until it settled about 10 feet away. From the light rough to the left of the fairway on the 17th, he hit a perfect chip-and-run to 3 feet for his final birdie.<\/p>\n

Even his 25-foot birdie putt on the final hole \u2014 with a chance to join Branden Grace as the only players with a 62 in a major \u2014 looked good until it turned away.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I had a putt today, I just wanted to hole it because I wanted to hear that roar,\u201d Lowry said. \u201cIt was just incredible. It was an incredible day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, all that stands between Lowry and the claret jug are 18 holes, tough weather and Sunday pressure with the hopes of an island following him along.<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ireland’s Shane Lowry tees off on the 5th hole during the third round of the British Open Golf Championships at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, Saturday, July 20, 2019.(AP Photo\/Peter Morrison)AP | AP PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland \u2014 The noise was unlike anything Shane Lowry had ever heard on a golf course, no surprise at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1312640","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 01:13:20","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1312640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1312640\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1312640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1312640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1312640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}