Shane Lowry moved into a share of the lead after the third round of the Cognizant Classic with a bogey-free, eight-under round of 63.
Lowry is tied at 13 under with Austin Smotherman, who battled his way to a 69 after three bogeys and five birdies led him to his second 69 of the tournament having scored a strong 62 in the opening round.
Lowry said his goal going into Saturday – which saw tee times moved forward because of anticipated bad weather – was just to get into one of the final two groups for Sunday.
Shane Lowry fought back from his one-under first round of 70, to score 67 in the second round, and 63 in the third (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)
“You want to be near the leaders, keep an eye on them and see what they’re doing,” Lowry said.
“If the conditions are like this tomorrow, there are low scores out there, so someone could come from the pack.
“It’s not necessarily easy to lead around this golf course. There’s a lot of very difficult shots. But I’m up there where I want to be. I’ve had a few chances to win this tournament, and hopefully I can convert it tomorrow.”
Lowry was second in 2022 when the event was still called the Honda Classic, losing the lead in a most bizarre fashion at the end – getting caught in a deluge that wreaked havoc on the final hole. Sepp Straka wound up winning by one shot, and Lowry wound up getting soaked.
He tied for fifth at PGA National a year later, had the solo lead going into the final round of the Cognizant before finishing tied for fourth in 2024, then tied for 11th last year.
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“There wasn’t much wind out there, so there’s certain things that aligned today to make it play easy enough, wind direction being one of them,” Lowry added.
“But you still need to go out there and hit the shots. The greens are firm. It can get away from you if you’re not hitting the ball well. I felt like I did everything pretty good today.”
It seemed like things tried to get away from Smotherman – who led after the first two rounds but he held it together just enough to finish knotted for the top spot.
Back-to-back bogeys on the par-4 sixth and the par-3 seventh threatened to throw his round off-stride, but a birdie-birdie finish might have given him a little momentum headed into Sunday as he seeks what would be his first PGA Tour victory.
Austin Smotherman shot an outstanding 62 in the first round but has struggled to replicate his success since (Photo by Doug Murray/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)
Nico Echavarria (66) and Taylor Moore (67) were a shot back at 12 under, and Jimmy Stanger – who’ll earn a check on tour for the first time since April 2024, after spending the last two years dealing with serious elbow issues – is alone in fifth at 11 under after shooting a 65 Saturday.
“It just feels good to be back,” Stanger said. “It feels good to be playing a weekend. It’s been a couple years. It’s good to be healthy. It’s just a cherry on top to be in contention here this week.”
Lowry’s 63 tied Patton Kizzire for the round of the day moving the American up 45 spots into a tie for ninth at eight under, while Keith Mitchell and Beau Hossler both shot 64s to join Kizzire, sat five shots behind the leaders.
