LOWRY IN THE MIX
Shane four off the lead going into the final day of PGA Championship at Wentworth
AFTER complaining about the windy conditions following a second-round 74, Shane Lowry knuckled down to business in a similarly stiff Wentworth breeze to give himself a chance to win the BMW PGA Championship this afternoon.
Yesterday’s third-round 70 saw him climb 55 places on the leaderboard to a share of fifth – just four shots behind leader Andrew Dodt of Australia who sits on eight under after a 68.
It looked like being another day of struggle for Lowry, who has failed to hit the heights since narrowly coming up short in last year’s US Open, when he bogeyed the first. Two more dropped shots on the outward nine holes cancelled out the pair of birdies he made on four and six.
However, an eagle on the 12th kick-started a strong push for home and another birdie arrived on the 17th, with two further birdie puts inbetween narrowly missing.
Lowry is tied on four under for the tournament with British Open champion Henrik Stenson and today’s final round playing partner Hideto Tanihara of Japan.
Ahead of them Dodt is a shot clear of Branden Grace, with Franceso Molinari and Lee Westwood on five under. Paul Dunne is tied for 40th on two over after a 72.
Yesterday was, unquestionably, the most un-Lee Westwood-like round of his entire career. He could not find a fairway, barely hit a green and yet finished with three successive birdies for a 72 to be right in the mix to win the PGA Championship at his 24th attempt.
As he came off the 18th green, his long-time caddie Billy Foster paid him the ultimate compliment. ‘That’s the best short-game display I’ve seen since I used to caddy for Seve,’ he said. Westwood has worked hard over the past few years to cure the obvious flaw in his game and, now he can chip with the best of them, it has given him a new lease of life.
‘I don’t know what will happen in the final round but I’m enjoying being able to compete at the age of 44 and that round has given me a lot of confidence,’ said Westwood. ‘It was weird. I hit the ball well on the range but didn’t have it on the course.
‘I went from being frustrated to puzzled to thinking it all a bit odd, and then, as I kept chipping and putting, we reached the laughter stage.’
The stats were amazing. Westwood, who has finished runner-up on two occasions here over the years, hit only one green in regulation in the first 15 holes and yet got down in two on 10 out of 11 occasions.
A grand week that has already drawn more than 100,000 spectators to the Surrey course is set for a fitting climax today. A victory for Grace, though, would also rekindle the debate over his controversial free drop in the first round, when his approach to the 13th plugged in the bank of a bunker, leaving him an awkward lie on the upslope.
However, after taking his stance in the sand, the 29-year-old called in a rules official and said his feet were touching the rubber sheeting at the base of the bunker, thereby entitling him to a free drop.
The decision prompted Danny Willett, whose ex-caddie Jonathan Smart is now working for Grace, to use Twitter to ask the Tour for an explanation, while Paul McGinley labelled the ruling ‘ridiculous’.
‘To be quite honest, I don’t think I did anything wrong,’ Grace reiterated after a 70 which featured four birdies in five holes from the 10th. ‘I actually heard that (Pádraig) Harrington was in the same scenario yesterday and he got relief as well. I think it brought the attention to a lot of guys out there that maybe didn’t know about that rule, but now they know.’