PGA Championship: Shane Lowry is in contention for his second major after another historic round at Valhalla

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Shane Lowry watched his putt on the 13th green slowly roll toward the cup.

As the 37-footer got closer, the Irishman crouched. Then, as he realized the ball was going to drop for the seventh of what would be nine birdies on the day. Lowry took a few steps back.

And when it disappeared, he raised his arm to celebrate.

"Yeah, it was pretty good," Lowry, who lives in Jupiter, said about his major championship-tying round of 62. "I enjoyed it. I enjoyed every minute of it.

"Probably the most disappointed anyone can ever be shooting 62. I knew what was at stake."

History was at stake. And at the PGA Championship this week at Valhalla Golf Course, history repeated itself.

Xander Schauffele shot the fourth ever 62 in a major championship Thursday. Now, Lowry makes it five.

But Lowry gave himself as good a chance as anyone to set that mark on the par-5 No. 18, the easiest hole on the course that has seen more than 200 birdies through three rounds.

And even after his drive landed in the rough, and his second shot rolled into the first cut, eventually 12-feet stood between Lowry and history on the 18th green.

And Lowry hit it 12 feet and he hit it straight … straight over the left of the cup.

What was unusual was it was that putter that put Lowry in this spot. Saturday marked the best day on the greens in the 37-year-old's career, making more than 161-feet of putts, including that 37-footer in No. 13 and a 33-footer on the next hole.

"It's nice to finally see a few going in the hole because it's been a slow year for me on the greens," said Lowry, who changed putters three weeks ago, the week he and Rory McIlroy won the Zurich Classic in New Orleans.

"When I got here, I saw the greens. The greens are beautiful. They're a nice pace to hole putts. It was nice to see a few going in."

And they have been soft, all week, because of the rain.

Lowry started eight shots behind the leaders Saturday and now enters Sunday's final round, tied for fourth, two shots behind leaders Schauffele and Collin Morikawa. He is 13-under after starting with a pair of 69s.

He was hoping to get to double figures below par to give himself a chance to win his second major to go along with 2019 British Open.

But he'll take this.

"That was my plan," he said. "If I could shoot 65, I felt like I'd be there, I'd obviously need another at least 65 (Sunday).

"But obviously a few better is nice."

In a week that has seen the sport getting as much attention on the gossip pages as the sports pages (yes, they still exist); and TMZ as ESPN, Lowry (like Schauffele Thursday) put the focus on golf.

For one day divorce petitions and mugshots were not the story.

And leave it to a man who looks as much like the weekend golfer as any among the best of the best on the the PGA Tour, wears his emotions on his sleeve, and could not wipe that smile off his face Saturday, to get this tournament back on track to where what is happening inside the ropes is the story.

Even Justin Rose, Lowry's teammate on the winning 2023 European Ryder Cup team and in his group Saturday, felt the energy on the soggy, soft course. Although the sun finally shined on Valhalla, the grounds were still squishy from all the rain.

"Good energy out there," Rose said. "You feed off the crowd, too. Crowds were getting interested in the day. They could see me going well. They could see Shane going well."

Rose and Lowry had the exact scorecard through eight holes, both with five birdies. Rose, though, fell back with a bogey on No. 9 and finished with a 64.

"Pretty average compared to Shane," he said.

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Lowry did not hide the fact that, yes, shooting a 61 was on his mind. And a lot earlier than you might think.

Those thoughts started creeping into his mind after a 29 on the front nine.

And they moved to the front after that second consecutive long birdie putt on No. 14 put him at 8-under for the round.

"When you go out in 29, you think, 'wow, I have a good day going here,'" he said. "When I holed the putt on 14, I was like, 'here we go, yeah, this is a good chance.'"

And even after that drive on 18 that leaked a bit to the right, Lowry still thought about about a birdie and the record.

But he had 240 yards to the hole with water all along the right side. So Lowry played it safe, laid up to 105 yards and put his chances at history into getting up and down.

"I knew if I made 5 that I'm still in the tournament," he said. "If I made 6, I'd be livid with myself. I felt like it was probably a bit too risky to take on.

"My job was to try to get myself back in the tournament, and I definitely did that."

Now, Shane Lowry will have to live with a 62.

Tom D'Angelo is a senior sports columnist and golf writer for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at tdangelo@pbpost.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Shane Lowry put himself back into contention at PGA Championship with a 62