SHANE LOWRY SHOWED his grit and determination to stay in contention for victory at the Honda Classic heading into the weekend.
The Offaly native remains outside the top 10 on four-under par but is just six shots shy of clubhouse leader Justin Suh at the PGA National’s Champion Course in Florida.
Lowry sunk a stunning 57-foot birdie putt on the 17th to keep pace and while he had to make do with a par on 18, last year’s runner up in this event knows that a surge is possible.
He was seven shots off the lead at the same stage in 2022 and finished strongly enough to earn second spot.
Another two-under second round came courtesy of a bogey on the second followed by a tidy birdie on the par-five third, while another followed on the eighth.
Suh leads Chris Kirk by one stroke on 10-under while Pádraig Harrington showed similar resilience to Lowry by digging deep for a two-under 68.
The Dubliner produced four birdies but a pair of bogeys squashed that momentum, and playing partner Zach Johnson was full of praise for the 51-year-old.
The US Ryder Cup captain also had European counterpart Luke Donald for company. ”
“Awesome, phenomenal pairing,” Johnson began. “I’d take it every week. Two good buddies, two awesome champions. Pádraig, I feel like he played better than what he shot the last two days. I think he’ll probably hang in there, at least my hope is that he gets in.”
The 25-year-old Suh is in his first full season on the PGA Tour after enjoying an outstanding year on the secondary Korn Ferry Tour, where he finished top of the season points race.
The Californian got off to a shaky start with a bogey on the par-4 second hole after he missed a four-foot putt.
But he put together a run of four straight birdies from the eighth hole onwards and crowned a fine round with a superb third shot on the 18th, which he landed seven feet from the hole.
“I think we played it pretty conservative, but aggressive to our spots. We definitely left ourselves some opportunities, but I thought we just hit it to the right spots on the green,” Suh said.
“We made some long lag putts that fortunately just went in, and that’s always a key to some good weeks, so hopefully we just keep it rolling,” he added.
Additional reporting by – © AFP 2023
