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

Shane Lowry finally experienced the magic of East Lake in the third round of the Tour Championship, when he signed with a 6-under 65 to move up five spots on the leaderboard to 13-under overall.

But Lawrie still trails Scottie Scheffler by 13 strokes. Either way, the Irishman knew a good score on Saturday would help him put himself in good position to win the big bonus.

He recorded six birdies and one bogey on the day and said it all finally clicked.

“It was good to put up a number today,” Lawrie said, “I'm pretty far behind, but I want to finish as high up on this leaderboard as I can and cap off a pretty good season here.”

Over the three days, East Lake finally seemed to show some of its players its fangs, averaging 69.4 points, up from its average of 68 over the first two days.

But Lawrie made it work, finishing first in strokes gained on putting on Saturday, +3.846 ahead of the field. The former British Open champion also was second in strokes gained on approaches to the green, +1.956.

Lawrie also tied for first place in strokes gained, gaining just over four strokes in the third round alone.

But it was his worst day off the tee, with just 7 of 14 hitting the fairway. The 37-year-old hit 16 of 18 on the green and made a 144-foot putt to lead the field.

Photo: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images

Lawrie's putting was on fire Saturday, drilling long birdie putts of 45 feet on the seventh hole and 24 feet on the 13th hole. Those putts kept him going and turned a good round into a great one.

With 18 holes remaining in the 2024 FedEx Cup Playoffs, Lowry may be out of reach of Scheffler, but he still has a goal in mind.

“I'm going to finish as high as I can and score as good as I can,” Lawrie said. “That's what I was thinking going into this tournament: If I can win the actual tournament without a staggered start, I think that will be a successful week. I'm going to finish pretty high. We'll see what happens. Scotty is way ahead, but you never know what's going to happen.”

If he posts another low number, who knows where he'll be on the leaderboard. Lowry had a decent performance in his first match in Atlanta.

Lawrie will play alongside Sam Burns on Sunday, with the two teeing off at 12:32 pm ET.

Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow us for more golf articles. Follow You can follow us on all major social platforms. You can also follow us on Twitter Follow Her Instagram account is @golf_girl_sl.