Shane Lowry’s first two rounds at Le Golf National flattered to deceive but he finally got it going on moving day and his round of five-under saw him climb up the leaderboard and inside the top-25.
Birdies were hard to come by over the opening two rounds, but the Offaly man made eight of them in round two – four on each side – but an unfortunate bogey on 18 left a slightly bitter taste in his mouth after playing an excellent round of golf where the putts finally started dropping.
“Yeah, I gave it my best today,” he said, “I made a lot of birdies and yeah, I thought going down the last that if I could birdie it, I’d give myself a real outside chance if I had a real low round tomorrow.
“I’m very happy with how I played, but ultimately, the damage was done the first couple of days out there. I needed to shoot better scores, but considering how I played – I felt like I played the same today as I did the last two days, I just converted my chances today.
“But that’s golf, it’s unfortunate, but I’m playing for a lot of pride this weekend and I’m giving it my best, trying to shoot the lowest scores I can and then when I’m finished, I’ll go out and cheer Rory in and hopefully he can get a medal.”
The bogey on 18 was unfortunate in that he hit what he thought was going to be an ‘okay’ tee shot only to see it dribble into the hazard, and then his 40-foot par putt looked to be heading dead-centre before tailing off at the last second.
“Yeah, I just pulled my tee shot, but I thought the line I hit it on it was going to be ok, but it just went way further than I thought it was going to go and it went in the water,” he explained. “I hit a great second shot and then just missed my putt. It was right on the edge, but I’ve had a lot of those this week. It’s been a ‘nearly’ week, but there’s still a lot to play for and if I can go out there an go mad on the front nine tomorrow then you never know. Give the leaders something to think about because the closing stretch on this course is by no means easy.”
Despite beating his lowest round of the week by a clear five shots, he still felt that he could’ve been a few shots lower and would’ve really given himself a chance at thrusting himself into the medal mix with a low round on Sunday.
“I chipped in twice today, I was better off the tee and my iron play was as good as it’s been all year, so yeah, there was plenty of good golf and 66 was probably one of the worst scores I could’ve shot, but that’s the way. Level-par for the first two days was also the worst score I could’ve been. I didn’t convert my chances and I felt I left a couple out there again today, but that’s the game we play and I obviously would’ve loved to come here and give it a better run this week, but that’s just the way it is.”