Irish Golf Desk

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Lowry six back in Honda Classic

Shane Lowry. Picture © USGA

Shane Lowry has it all to do in the final round of the Honda Classic after a bogey-bogey finish left him six strokes behind England’s Tommy Fleetwood.

Out in two over after mixing two birdies and two bogeys with a double-bogey at the par-three fifth, Lowry was inside the top ten when he birdied the 13th to get to one-under-par.

But he three-putted the 17th, then found water with his approach to the par-five 18th and failed to pitch and putt for par to slip back to tied 23rd on one-over.

Fleetwood was level par for the day with six holes to go and armed with a hot putter, he made four birdies in his last six holes en route to a three-under 67 that left him one clear of Brendan Steele (71) on five-under.

Scores

“I mean, I've had chances before, and hopefully I'll continue to have chances whether it's tomorrow or not,” said Fleetwood, who has four runner-up finishes on the PGA Tour but no wins. “I'll be absolutely fine with that.

“I'm looking forward to the challenge, and I think more than anything, I had a bit of a layoff, hadn't played loads since the end of last year.

“And I think coming out on such a tough golf course, and more than anything proving to yourself that your game is there in a good place and you're going to move forward from here I'm going to wake up tomorrow and go out there with a chance to win my first PGA TOUR event. Nothing better, I'm really excited about it.”

Former world No 1’s Luke Donald (71) - winner at PGA National in 2006 - and Lee Westwood (71) are tied third on three-under with Daniel Berger (69), Charl Schwartzel (70) and Sungjae Im (70) joint fifth on two-under.