Shane Lowry’s spectacular play could spell an epic finish at 1st Tour Championship

Shane Lowry finally saw some East Lake magic in Round 3 of the Tour Championship. He signed for a 6-under 65 and moved five spots up the leaderboard to 13-under overall.

Lowry is still 13 strokes behind Scottie Scheffler, though. Regardless, the Irishman knew shooting a good score on Saturday would help put him in a great position to earn a big-time bonus.

He recorded six birdies and one lone bogey on the day and said everything finally came together.

“To shoot a number today was nice,” Lowry said. “I’m a long way behind. But trying to finish up as far up this leaderboard as I can to top off what has been a pretty good season out here.”

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Over the three days, it seemed like East Lake finally dug its teeth into some players. The scoring average was 69.4, higher than the 68 average of the first two days.

However, Lowry executed well. He was No. 1 in strokes gained putting on Saturday, picking up +3.846 on the field. The former Open winner was also No. 2 in strokes gained approach to the green at +1.956.

Lowry also tied for first in strokes gained total, picking up a little over four shots in Round 3 alone.

It was his worst day off the tee, though, as he only hit 7-of-14 fairways. The 37-year-old hit 16-of-18 greens and made 144 feet of putts, which led the field.

Photo by Mike Mulholland/Getty Images

Lowry’s putter was scorching hot on Saturday. He made two long birdie putts at 7 for 45 feet and 13 for 24 feet. Those kinds of putts kept the momentum going and turned his good round into an excellent one.

There are 18 holes left in the 2024 FedEx Cup playoffs. Lowry may not be within reach of Scheffler, but he still has a goal in mind.

“Finish as high up the leaderboard as I can, shoot the best score I can,” Lowry said. “I had a thought coming into this tournament— if I can win the actual tournament without the staggered start, I think that would be a successful week. I’m going to finish pretty high up the leaderboard. We’ll see how it goes. Scottie is way ahead, but you never know.”

Suppose he goes out and shoots another low number; who knows where it could land him on the leaderboard. For his first time in Atlanta, Lowry has put on quite the performance.

Lowry will play alongside Sam Burns on Sunday, and the duo tees off at 12:32 p.m. ET.

Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @golf_girl_sl.