Lowry and Rose stay patient on tough day at US Masters

Offaly man pleased with how he ‘dug in’ as he recovers from nightmare start

Shane Lowry overcame a rough start to finish his second round strongly at Augusta. Photo: Getty

Justin Rose recovered from a slow start to keep his Masters hopes very much alive going into the weekend. Photo: David J. Phillip/AP

Shane Lowry overcame a rough start to finish his second round strongly at Augusta. Photo: Getty

Shane Lowry

Justin Rose recovered from a slow start to keep his Masters hopes very much alive going into the weekend. Photo: David J. Phillip/AP

Shane Lowry overcame a rough start to finish his second round strongly at Augusta. Photo: Getty

Brian Keogh

April 10 2021 02:30 AM

Patience is a virtue at Augusta National and it doubly rewarded Shane Lowry and Justin Rose as they recovered from slow starts to keep their Masters hopes very much alive on a day of hot scoring in steamy Georgia.

With the greens a shade softer and slower and the pin positions fractionally more accessible, the scoring average was three shots lower than on day one as the birdies flew in and the chasing pack closed in on the leaders.

But so hot was the scoring that the English veteran had just a two-stroke lead over Australian Marc Leishman (67) and hot favourite Jordan Spieth (68) with Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger (66), Tony Finau (66) and Justin Thomas (67) lurking a shot further back on four-under.

“My mindset today was to be free, to go out there and play as free of golf as I could because I felt that having the opportunity to play with a lead from day one could play in my favour come Sunday. You get used to it.”

Admitting he faced an agonising wait for his round to turn around and the birdies to flow, he added: “I was waiting for sure, but it seemed a little more elusive today, no doubt. I was joking, the finger was heading towards the panic button a little bit.

“I had a little talk with myself on eight and said you’re still leading the Masters, and I just changed my mindset a little bit and started to play match play against the golf course.

“I scratched a line on my scorecard and told myself I was three down and could I go ahead and beat the golf course from that point on. I had a putt on 18 to win my match 1-up, but unfortunately it just slipped by. But an honourable draw.”

Lowry (34) is playing in only his sixth Masters but after starting double-bogey, bogey following back-to-back three-putts and then soaring to four-over for the day with seven holes to play, he showed his maturity by playing his last seven holes in three-under par to chisel out a one-over 73 that left him inside the top 30 on level-par.

He will be upset to take 32 putts. But he also knows he is still well in the hunt after a round that might have gotten away from him. At the opening hole, he hit a perfect drive down the middle but took dead aim at the pin with his 132-yard approach and missed the green on the left. Facing a tough recovery to a pin set six feet above him, his pitch stopped 25 feet short and after a tentative first putt, he three-putted for a costly double-bogey.

He would three-putt again from 30 feet at the par-five second before a trademark 60-yard pitch to two feet at the third setup an easy birdie. He then made a great sand save at the 240-yard fourth, rolling in a nine footer to remain one-over for the tournament and while he came up short with his approach to the seventh and dropped another shot to turn in 39, he did not panic when he was blocked out by the trees at the 11th and dropped another shot to slip perilously close to the cut line on three-over.

He would safely par the next three holes and while he was unlucky his cut up approach to the 17th left him a near impossible eight footer, he made amends at the last, stiffing his 150-yard approach to set up a closing birdie before jocosely turfing the divot back at caddie Bo Martin.

"After the start I had, I'm really pleased with myself how I dug in,” Lowry said. "The birdie on three was a huge lift and really helped to settle me down and from there I played pretty steady. The birdie on 12 was another boost, and how that shot on 13 didn't drop for eagle was just amazing as it was just a perfect bunker shot.

“I just played really steady from there and to walk off with a birdie there on 18 was a huge boost heading to the weekend. Justin has really opened the door with his score today but that's how Augusta is and all we can do now is wait and see what the guys in the afternoon do. I'm going off to enjoy some lunch, a little practice but now excited about the weekend.”

Following a two-putt birdie at the 13th, he allowed himself a smile as a left-to-right breaking 25 footer tracked perfectly into the cup, then made up for failing to take advantage of a 325-yard drive down the 15th by rolling in a 20 footer for a two at the 16th.

After opening up a four-shot lead with that opening 65, Rose admitted he allowed himself to wonder what the winning score might be before concentrating instead on executing his shots.

“It did cross my mind yesterday,” Rose said. “I said, I wonder if I shot three 70s after yesterday if that would be good enough. You can see the leaderboard and who is stacking up behind, and I feel like there’s a lot of firepower there where you can’t ever really hold anyone back to a number.

“You just have to keep hitting the shots. I’m not going to worry about a score. I think it’s hard enough just to keep playing shot by shot rather than even sort of trying to piece scores together day-by-day.”

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