McIlroy and Lowry one shot off lead heading into final round at Pebble Beach Pro-Am
by Sinead Farrell · The42LAST UPDATE | 20 hrs ago
Updated at 10.34
RORY MCILROY AND Shane Lowry are one shot off the lead heading into the final round at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in California.
McIlroy briefly the outright lead after a brilliant round of 65, with the Offaly man climbing up alongside him with the same score shortly after to set up a mouthwatering conclusion on Sunday.
But Sepp Strakka has since overtaken them both by one shot to take the lead on 16-under.
McIlroy and Lowry have recorded the same scores of 66, 70, 65 throughout the tournament, and both enjoyed holes-in-one in the opening round.
McIlroy opened with back-to-back birdies in the third round and added two more on the fifth and ninth to put him at four-under on the turn. He didn’t drop any shots and picked up three more birdies on three of the last four holes to leave him in a strong position for the final round.
Lowry birdied the first and third and picked up an eagle in between on the second hole. Another birdie on the sixth was followed by dropped shots on the seventh and ninth before launching a strong recovery on the back nine with birdies on the 11th, 14th, 16th and 18th holes.
Séamus Power is on eight-under after a third round of 68 which included five birdies and one bogey.
Straka birdied four of the last five holes to grab a one-stroke lead over McIlroy and Lowry.
Advertisement
The famed oceanside layout was struck by gusting winds, heavy rains and cold conditions for much of the day but Straka rallied for a two-under 70 to stand on 16-under-par 200.
Austria’s Straka, who stumbled out of the lead with three bogeys to start the back nine, closed his late run with a four-foot birdie putt at the par-5 18th to regain the top spot.
“It was a bit of a roller coaster out there,” Straka said. “Things got pretty tough. Wind. Rain. I didn’t handle them too well. Struggled all day with speed on the greens because of the wind. Didn’t adjust really well until the last few holes.”
Straka, who won his third PGA Tour title just two weeks ago at the American Express event, opened with back-to-back birdies. But his second shot at the 10th faded right over a cliff and onto the beach to start a three-bogey run.
He answered with birdie putts at 14 and 15, sank a 29-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th, then blasted out of a bunker to four feet at 18 and sank the putt.
“Really proud of the way I stuck it out and came back to get some birdies coming in. Hit some really big putts.”
“It got really squally around seven, eight nine 10 for us. For me to play those holes at even par was huge,” McIlroy said.
“Then it started to settle and it’s a little more sheltered on the back nine and it was nice to pick up a few birdies on the way in.”
“Shot a good score but it was pretty miserable out there at times,” added Lowry. “It was very important to birdie the easy holes because the hard holes were really hard.”
England’s Justin Rose and South Korea’s Tom Kim each shot 68 to share fourth on 202 with Australian Cam Davis, who shot 69.
Northern Ireland’s McIlroy seeks his 27th career PGA Tour triumph while Irish pal Lowry seeks his fourth PGA victory and first since he and McIlroy combined for last April’s pairs crown at New Orleans.
“Let’s hope one of us does the business,” Lowry said.
McIlroy hopes for a rare California triumph.
“Tomorrow would be big for a lot of reasons,” McIlroy said. “It’s exciting to try and get my first win of the season. Historically, the West Coast hasn’t been that good for me. Haven’t played great at this golf course.”
Meanwhile in the LPGA, Leona Maguire is nine shots off the lead heading into the final round at the season-opening Tournament of Champions at Lake Nona in Florida.
The Cavan woman carded a 72 in the third round, picking up three birdies and three bogeys in all.
Additional reporting by AFP