Wayward McIlroy goes backwards as Lowry keeps hopes alive on moving day at Pebble Beach
Shane Lowry kept his victory hopes alive with a battling 67 as Rory McIlroy racked up two sevens and almost certainly said goodbye to his AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am title.
The Holywood star got off to the fast start he wanted with birdies at the second and third.
But he made a horror triple-bogey seven when he drove over the cliff trying to drive the 324-yard fourth.
While he'd make four birdies from there, he also threw shots away - a destructive drive right into the hazard costing him a bogey at the tenth before a drive out of bounds right and a closing three-putt led to a double-bogey seven at 18th.
It all added up to a level par 72 for the world number two, who had hoped to make a move ahead of Sunday’s forecasted 30 mph-plus winds.
Instead, he ended the day tied for 39th in the 80-man field on nine under, ten shots behind Akshay Bhatia, who shot a fine 68 to lead by two shots from Collin Morikawa, Austria’s Sepp Straka and Jake Knapp on 19 under.
McIlroy has made two eagles and 17 birdies so far this week, but as he admitted himself on Friday, he's been “wasteful” too.
He made two double bogeys on par threes in the second round and two sevens last night on holes where he was expecting to have birdie chances.
Ten shots might not be too many to make up on Bhatia given the strong winds forecast for Sunday.
But the smart money will be on the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, five back in joint seventh, or Lowry, whose 67 left him just six strokes off the lead In a tie for 12th.
Runner-up to McIlroy last year, the 2019 Open champion will relish the chance to show his skills in stiff winds and likely showery weather and he showed he can compete yesterday.
He made five birdies and two bogeys to turn in two under before keeping his card clean on the way home, picking up three birdies in his last six holes.
At 13-under, he's six shots behind Bhatia, but as a strong bad-weather player, he’ll be fancied to put pressure on the American.
A two-time PGA Tour winner, the Californian (24) turned in a brilliant six under 30 before dropping shots at short 12th with 17th as conditions deteriorated late in the afternoon.
As Straka shot 67, Morikawa made 11 birdies and hit all 18 greens in a ten-under 62 while Knapp bookended his 66 with eagles, holing out from 130 yards at the first before making a 13-footer for a three at the par-five last.
Lowry is one of 17 players within six shots of Bhatia, while world number one Scottie Scheffler is eight behind after a 67.
The Texan is bidding for his 18th top ten finish in a row, but he was unconcerned about that streak.
“I mean, I think 17 straight top-10s is a good result from a lot of consistent play,” said Scheffler, who was tied for 22nd.
“Outside of that, I could not care any less.”
As for catching the leader, Scheffler said, “I mean, I don't want to rule anything out for myself. You never want to limit yourself.
“I'd obviously like to be in a better position on the leaderboard. But yeah, with crazy weather, crazy things can happen, and we'll see what I can do tomorrow.”
