PGA TourBrian KeoghShane Lowry, Jimmy Lowry, Brendan Lowry, Honda Classic, Chris Kirk

Lowry looking to win Honda Classic for late uncle Jimmy: "He was great craic, and I loved him"

PGA TourBrian KeoghShane Lowry, Jimmy Lowry, Brendan Lowry, Honda Classic, Chris Kirk
Lowry looking to win Honda Classic for late uncle Jimmy: "He was great craic, and I loved him"

Shane Lowry tees off on the 18th hole during the first round at the 2022 U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass. on Thursday, June 16, 2022. (Robert Beck/USGA)

Shane Lowry admitted he will be playing to honour the memory of his uncle Jimmy Lowry when he chases down Chris Kirk in the final round in the Honda Classic in Florida on Sunday.

Wearing a green and white ribbon on his cap in memory of late Ferbane GAA stalwart, an older brother of his father Brendan, who passed away unexpectedly on Thursday aged 66, Lowry fired a five-under 65 to share fourth place on nine-under-par, just four shots behind Kirk in his adopted home town.

The world number 20 admitted he wanted to withdraw from the tournament and head home to support his family when he heard the tragic news on Thursday morning.

But 12 months after being pipped at the post by Sepp Straka as a rainstorm lashed down on the 18th hole, he's given himself a chance to pay tribute to his uncle with a third PGA Tour win.

"It's a very sad week for our family," Lowry said after making seven birdies in the second-best round of the day. "To be honest, I wanted to go home on Thursday when I heard the news. A lot of people talked me out of it.

"I'm here now. I'm trying to play for him and play for his wife and his kids and my cousins and my uncles and my aunts and everyone at home because we're a very close family and very proud of our name and very proud of where we come from."

As for the ribbon in his cap, he said: "Green and white is just where he's from, that's Ferbane in Offaly, in Ireland, and said I'd wear it. Yeah, hopefully, I can go out and make him proud tomorrow.

"Everyone keeps telling me how proud he was of me over the last number of years, and hopefully I can do him another day proud tomorrow.

"He's two years older than my dad, so he's 66. He's just a great man. He loved working. He loved hard work. He loved hardship.

"He was big into Gaelic games at home. He didn't necessarily play at the highest level, but he was very involved and loved in the community, and he was just a great man. He was great craic, and I loved him.

"It's a very sad day for our family. Yeah, it's just quite sad, and it's quite hard. It's been a difficult week. It's been very difficult not to be there at home for my dad because my dad is a big softy and he'll take this quite hard. But I'll see him in a couple of weeks when he comes out here."

Lowry went into the third round tied for 16th in four-under, six strokes behind halfway leader Justin Suh.

But he surged through the field on moving day with some impressive course management and putting.

While he missed a six-footer for birdie at the second, Lowry birdied the par-five third from three feet.

He had to make a seven-footer to avoid a three-putt at the fourth, then rolled in a 20-footer for a two at the 172-yard fifth to get to within four shots of the lead.

His stellar short game came to the rescue at the eighth, where he made a seven-footer for par to maintain his momentum after bunkering his approach.

When a 17-footer lipped in for birdie at the ninth, he was out in 32 and just three strokes off the lead.

He then reeled off three birdies in a row, chipping in at the 11th before making a 16-footer for birdie at the 12th and a six-footer at the 13th to get to within a shot of Kirk on 10-under.

"It was probably going maybe eight feet past or something like that, but that was a bit of a Brucie bonus," Lowry said of his chip-in. "To do well in tournaments on courses like this, you need breaks like that, and thankfully I got that. I kicked on a little bit from there, and I struggled towards the end, but it's not easy out there. It's hard. Yeah, but I'm happy with my day's work."

While he was disappointed to bogey the 14th from the middle of the fairway and then drop another shot at the 17th, where he missed a three-and-a-half footer for par, he was pleased to chip close at the last for a closing birdie four.

Lowry needed a closing birdie to force a playoff with Sepp Straka last year but could only make par as a torrential downpour hit the course.

"I just hope it doesn't rain tomorrow," he joked of his hopes for the final round.

"No, look, this golf course, you don't know what's going to happen. You just need to stick in as long as you can. There's not many holes where you can stand up, and you don't want to be complacent but take it easy on them.

"Every hole is a bit of a disaster hole, or a lot of holes are a bit of disaster holes. You just need to be very cautious and aggressive to your targets and just go out there and give it your best, and if that's good enough at the end of the day, you hope to be standing here with the trophy."

Kirk (37) looked to be fading with bogeys at the 14th and 16th but he birdied the 17th and 18th to card a four-under 66 and a two-shot lead over 34-year rookie Eric Cole, who also shot 66, on 13-under.

A former Walker Cup and Presidents Cup player, the most recent of Kirk's four PGA Tour victories came at the Colonial tournament eight years ago.

Overnight leader Suh missed a short birdie putt at the last and shot 70 to sit alone in third on 10-under with Lowry tied for fourth with England’s Ben Taylor on nine-under.

But while Cole and Suh have yet to win on tour, making Lowry a fancied chaser, the Offaly man hopes he can keep himself in the game on Sunday on a traditionally punishing track.

"If I can just hang around all day, hopefully I can give myself a chance coming down the stretch," Lowry said of his hopes for the final round.

"I think I did what I needed to do today. I knew I needed -- with the way the conditions were, I knew I probably needed to go out and shoot a decent score, I did, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

Ranked fourth for strokes gained from tee to green, he's sixth for scrambling and 25th for putting after overcoming some early-season gremlins on the greens.

"I putted nicely, hit the ball well," he said of his day. "To be honest, in the first round, I hit the ball unbelievable. Yesterday I putted quite nicely, and today I put the two of them together.

"I missed a short one on 17, which I don't know where that came out of, but hopefully, all that will come together tomorrow and I can shoot a decent score."

Pádraig Harrington, meanwhile, went birdie-birdie-par through the Bear Trap and shot a one-under 69 to move up to tied 50th on one-under.