At Truist Championship, fitting champion faces 2 final-round obstacles

FLOURTOWN, Pa. — The PGA Tour’s return to Philadelphia has had a little bit of everything through three days at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course.

But with the dust settled after 54 holes, everything points toward one player lifting the cricket club trophy on Sunday as the Pennsylvania sun fades: Shane Lowry.

One month ago, Rory McIlroy ended his major drought in thrilling fashion at the 2025 Masters. One week later, Justin Thomas bested Andrew Novak in a playoff at the RBC Heritage to capture his first win in almost three years.

Like McIlroy and Thomas, Lowry is in a drought of his own.

Lowry and McIlroy won the 2024 Zurich Classic together, but it has been 972 days since Lowry won an individual event. That was the 2022 BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth Golf Club on the DP World Tour. He hasn’t won a PGA Tour-affiliated event since the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush.

Like McIlroy and Thomas, Lowry’s streak should be about to end.

After shooting a 3-under-par 67 on Saturday, Lowry will enter Sunday’s final round tied with Sepp Straka at 14-under. Through three rounds, Lowry leads the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Tee to Green. He rose up the leaderboard on Saturday as McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and others were either stuck in neutral or escorted themselves out of the tournament.

The atmosphere, the course and the narrative of the PGA Tour’s thrilling 2025 season all say this ends with Lowry celebrating in front of a crowd that has seemed to adopt him more and more with each round.

But it won’t be easy. Getting it over the line never is, especially when it has been almost 1,000 days since your last win. Lowry’s most important mission on Sunday will be breaking down a wall he has been punching at for 972 days.

“I just think you need to be persistent,” Lowry said Saturday. “You need to keep putting yourself there, and eventually it will happen. You look at Rory at the Masters a few weeks ago. Keep knocking on the door, and eventually you’ll go through it. I feel like I’ve done a good job of it this season, last season. It does get frustrating sometimes, but I’m in the final group tomorrow.

“I’ve played pretty good golf this year. I’m pretty happy with the way I’m playing this week, and I’m going to go out and give my best. If it’s good tomorrow, that will be great.”

Lowry put himself in contention at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am but lost to McIlroy. He had a chance entering the weekend at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Valspar Championship, but faded. Even at the Masters, Lowry was a factor until shooting a Sunday 81.

Winning is hard even for the elite players.

Lowry’s task at a golden-age gem on Sunday will be rife with challenges.

There’s the course, an unfamiliar test that has shifted identities as the conditions have changed over the tournament’s first three days, including a change in green speeds that baffled the pros on Saturday.

“They required different almost like strategies or mindset [each day],” Lowry said.

There’s Straka, who leads the field in putting, is sixth in approach play, and already has a win this year at the American Express.

Straka has played splendidly this week, but an even more dangerous predator lurks three shots behind in Justin Thomas.

The World No. 5 scratched and clawed to shoot a 4-under-par 66 on Saturday. With a win fresh in his mind and his confidence surging, Thomas’ presence on the leaderboard will make Lowry’s drought-ending quest all the more difficult.

“It’s a lot of probably faith and belief in my game and where everything’s at,” Thomas said of his confidence level on Saturday. “It doesn’t just happen coincidentally. I do think it’s something that you can do the best that you can in terms of thinking your way to being more positive, and good things will happen.

“It’s just more of trying to get my game to a place close to where it is now believing I need to just play golf. Don’t do anything special, don’t force the issue, and just try to let things happen more often.”

Lowry knows Thomas is within striking distance, as are Keith Mitchell (11 under) and Hideki Matsuyama (10 under).

But Sunday will be about Lowry, who said that he has “kicked on” since the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome and is ready to see a trophy as a reward for his hard work.

He knows how to win. Even if it has been a while, the feeling never leaves you. Each player’s approach to the final-round cauldron is different.

For Lowry, 972 days since his last victory, the message is simple: Be Shane Lowry.

“Just allowing myself to be myself and play my game,” Lowry said. “I think, if I allow myself to be me tomorrow, I can achieve what I want to achieve. It’s a funny old game. There’s obviously some of the best players in the world not too far behind us. So, yeah, I’ll give it my best.”