SHANE LOWRY PRODUCED some spectacular golf at the Valspar Championship’s par 3s today to leap nine places up the leaderboard into a share of 16th position.
The Offaly man trails leader Davis Riley by ten shots after Riley produced a spectacular 9-under round of 62, the lowest of his career. Riley leads by two from MatthewNeSmith with both Justin Thomas and Sam Burns a shot further back at Innisbrook’s Copperhead course in Palm Harbor, Florida.
Lowry’s round consisted of one birdie on the front nine, three on the back, before a bogey on 17 spoiled his card.
Still, he produced quality, particularly on the par 3 fourth and par 3 fifteenth when putts of 13-feet and 22-feet reminded us of the Irishman’s touch around the green. Each effort was attempted bravely, Lowry reading the break intelligently as he rolled the putts in with a touch of aggression.
Better again was the 32-footer at the sixteenth which reminded us of how this man won the Open when it was staged in Portrush.
Riley fired his best US PGA round by three strokes, to seize a two-shot lead.
The 25-year-old American rookie, whose only top-10 tour finish was a share of seventh at Bermuda last October, stood on 18-under 195 through 54 holes.
World number 399 Riley, who needed only 20 putts, had a spectacular bogey-free round highlighted by holing out a 69-foot bunker shot at the par-4 ninth.
“I was excited for that one to go in,” Riley said. “I got off to a really good start. I felt like I had some momentum. It was a great day.”
American Matthew NeSmith, the 36-hole leader, made bogeys at 16 and 17 to stumble back into second on 197 with defending champion Sam Burns and fellow American Justin Thomas on 198 and Canada’s Adam Hadwin fifth on 200.
Riley shattered the tournament’s old 54-hole record of 199, set by South Korean K.J. Choi in 2002 and matched by Hadwin in 2017 and Burns and Keegan Bradley last year.
“It was one of those days where you are in the groove. I was so zoned in, I couldn’t have told you where I was (on the leaderboard),” Riley said.
“I’ve been trying to keep good perspective. For me, it’s kind of stay in the moment and keep my feet where they are.”
Riley opened with back-to-back birdies from seven and 21 feet, had another back-to-back set at the sixth and seventh from five and 10 feet and closed out the front nine with his bunker birdie blast.
Riley sank 11-foot birdie putts at the par-5 11th and par-3 13th, a six-foot birdie putt at the par-5 14th and a 16-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th.
Feeding off a pairing with pal Justin Thomas, who fired a third straight 66, Riley said the crowd following the 2017 PGA Championship winner helped boost him as well.
“It’s nice to play with a good buddy like Justin,” Riley said. “It was fun playing off each other all day.”
Thomas and Burns will form a formidable penultimate pairing.
“Solid day. Put myself in good position for tomorrow,” Thomas said. “All you want is a good chance down the last five or six holes.”
Burns, who opened eagle-birdie and holed a 35-foot birdie putt at 16, fired a second straight 67 after opening Thursday with a 64.
“Overall a solid day,” Burns said. “I was happy with the way I finished the day out.”
Ulster’s Graeme McDowell didn’t make it to the weekend after missing the cut yesterday.
