Ireland’s Shane Lowry had three major champions breathing down his neck but didn’t falter as he secured the biggest victory of his career in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational tonight.
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Lowry fired a final-round four-under 66 to finish at 11 under par and win by two strokes from Bubba Watson (66), while Day finished with a 69 and tied with countryman Steve Bowditch who also got within three before finishing with a 72.
They both covered the front nine in one-over to trail Lowry by one shot before the Irishman, after hitting a wayward drive at the 10th, conjured a miracle second shot from rough left of the 11th tee, his ball settling two feet from the flag.
The resulting 66 set the clubhouse target at nine under par and left Lowry needing to par the final two holes for victory.
Lowry, 28, maybe has discovered a few of that from McIlroy, who is 2 years youthful however has 4 main championships to his identify and a slew of different accomplishments. Still to be navigated was a 50-foot tree about 40 yards in front of him, so he opened the face of a pitching wedge and let it rip – over the green, onto the green with a bounce that fed it to tap-in range for birdie. “I know it will stay with me now for the rest of my career, and hopefully I’ve got a long career ahead of me”.
“When I heard about Rory’s injury, I just sent him a text that said, “Heard about the injury, hope to see you back as soon as you can”, Lowry recalled.
“I know obviously how much a win would mean so it’s disappointing, but like I said, I hit the shots and the putts that I wanted to”, Reifers said. He won the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic last year in his debut on the 50-and-over tour.
Beginning with a bogey, Lee was facing a drop down the star-studded leaderboard but his newfound consistency came through, erasing another bogey at the fourth with five birdies and the balance in pars. Watson was up to his old theatrics with a shot out of the trees to 6 feet for birdie on the 17th to get within one shot.
Graeme McDowell finished three groups ahead of Lowry, but the Ulsterman stuck around to watch Lowry roll in his final putt and congratulate his friend.
With his win at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational, Shane Lowry climbed to 19th in the World Golf Ranking, received a 3 year exemption on the PGA Tour and amassed approximately €1.4m in prize money. He had accepted special temporary status earlier this year. I think I figured out how to play out here in the altitude.
His charge ended when he hunted the pin on the 13th and went long, making bogey.
Lowry won the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009, and he picked up his first European Tour victory in 2012 in Portugal.
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He’s young, willing to decorate his Srixon with something more than the traditional dots and lines that mark the PGA Tour.
