Things were not going great for Shane Lowry to start Saturday’s final round at the Farmers Insurance Open.
The Irishman opened his week with a 66 on Wednesday on Torrey Pines’ easier North Course but backed up in the following two rounds with 73s on the South. It was looking like more of the same through five holes.
Lowry bogeyed the 1st by going bunker-to-bunker. Then he three-putted the 2nd for another bogey. He managed to get a shot back with a 2 on the dramatic par-3 3rd, but gave it right back with a bogey on 4.
Lowry wasn’t the only one struggling with the South Course in his group. Patrick Cantlay was also two over through 5, while Aaron Rai was three over. That led Lowry to offer a quip to ESPN+ reporter Colin Swatton as the trio walked to the sixth tee.
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“Wow, we’re giving you some good stuff to watch this morning, aren’t we?” Lowry asked Swatton, who was covering the group as one of the streamer’s featuring pairings.
“The fun is just starting,” Swatton responded.
Something about that comment must have gotten to Lowry as he hit his drive in the fairway. Then from 256 yards, flew his approach at the par-5 right at the pin.
“Go, go, go!” Lowry shouted at the ball.
It landed just short of the green, bounced on and started tracking toward the flag.
“Pay attention!” one of the broadcasters called out.
It hit the center of the flag stick, spun around to the back of the hole and dropped.
“Down it goes!” ESPN+’s Brian Katrek said on the call. “That will get you healthy in a hurry!”
It was the first albatross at the Farmers in eight years and catapulted Lowry to five under for the tournament. It was also the second double eagle of the season after Jake Knapp made one during the second round of the American Express last week. The two albatrosses mark the first time since 2019 there have been double eagles in back-to-back weeks on the PGA Tour.
While the odds from the National Hole-In-One Registry list the odds of making an ace at 12,500 to 1 (3,000 to 1 for a tour pro), most outlets quote the odds of an albatross from 1,000,000 to 1 to a ridiculous 6,000,000 to 1.
The 2019 Champion Golfer of the Year seems to be on a roll of late in terms of hole-outs as well. In 2022, he made just the 10th ace in Players Championship history at the iconic island green par-3 17th. That led to what NBC’s Paul Azinger described as one of the “best reactions you’re ever going to get.“
Then, just last week, Lowry spun his approach on his final hole Saturday at the AmEx off the bank on the side of the green and into the cup for an eagle capping a four-under stretch over his final three holes of the third round. At the time, that looked to be enough for Lowry to make the cut in La Quinta, but the line moved minutes after his hole-out, leaving him on the outside looking in.
This week, the Albatross brought Lowry within six shots of the lead early in the final round, however with the leaders yet to tee off by the time, Lowry will probably need more heroics to have any chance at the title this week. But he’ll still leave La Jolla this week with some history.
