So close, and yet so far. Shane Lowry rode the thin line between victor and vanquished in a final round of the RBC Heritage Classic at Harbour Town Golf Links at Hilton Head Island in South Carolina where, for the second straight week, he had to accept his fate of missing out and finishing in tied-third as Jordan Spieth went to extra holes to get the job done.
For so much of the final round, after a shaky start, Lowry was streamlining his way towards a first tour win since his Claret Jug success of 2019 but, almost from nowhere, his fate was decided on the Par 3 14th hole where a poor tee shot into a waste area in the trees was followed by a pitch that saw his ball roll through the green and over the railway sleepers into the water.
In running up a double bogey six, having gone 25 holes without dropping a shot, Lowry dropped from outright leader into one of those in pursuit of Jordan Spieth. Needing a birdie over his finishing holes to force his way into a play-off, Lowry salvaged a good par on the 15th before hitting a superb tee-shot on the Par 3 17th to 12 feet only to see his birdie putt stay left of the cup and above ground.
A poor approach on the 18th effectively sealed his fate, as he found a bunker but at least managed to get up and down to save his par as a closing 69 for 12-under-par 272 left the Offalyman in tied-third place, a shot outside of the play-off fought out by Spieth and Patrick Cantlay.
Lowry, in fine form of late in claiming a third top-10 finish in his last six appearances on tour, had made his move on the front nine with a run of three successive birdies - on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes - to turn in 33 strokes and moved into the outright lead with a birdie on the 11th only for that Par 3 14th to prove his undoing after a pulled tee shot and, then, a chip shot that hit the green and ran on and on over the sleepers into the water.
That double-bogey ultimately proved to be the destructive score on Lowry’s card, although to his credit he gave himself chances coming in without being able to convert.
In the playoff, Spieth’s approach to the green - on the 18th - at the first play-off hole found a plugged lie but he managed to get up and down to save his par. Cantlay, also in a plugged lie, hit his bunker shot some 35 feet beyond the flag and failed to hole the putt as Spieth captured his first win since the Valero Texas Open some 13 months ago.
It gave Spieth a 13th win on the PGA Tour, which - despite some poor putting through the tournament - also showcased his ability to get the job done: “Last week was really a killer for me, my favourite tournament (the Masters) and not getting to play the weekend, this feels amazing. I am a little lost for words. I won this golf tournament without a putter.”
Graeme McDowell closed with a 68 for a total of eight-under-par 276, to finish in tied-21st position.
On the LPGA Tour, South Korean Hyo Joo Kim closed with a 71 for a total of 11-under-par 277 to finish two strokes clear of Japan’s Hinako Shibuno to win the Lotte Championship in Hawaii. It was the 26-year-old’s fifth LPGA Tour career title.
Unfortunately, it proved to be a disappointing closing round for Stephanie Meadow who had started in fourth place but signed for a 77 for 287, one-under, that dropped her to tied-18th place.
“Not the Sunday I was looking for but proud of how I played the back today. Learning from my mistakes and ready to head to LA,” said Meadow on social media after her disappointing finish.
Leona Maguire shot a 69 in the final round for 291 to finish in tied-48th position. Both Meadow and Maguire are in the field for this week’s DIO Implant Open at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles.
Collated final round scores and totals (USA unless stated, Irish in bold Par 71)
271 Jordan Spieth 69 68 68 66 (Won at 1st play-off hole), Patrick Cantlay 66 67 70 68
272 Cameron Davis (Aus) 69 73 67 63, Matt Kuchar 68 69 67 68, Shane Lowry (Irl) 66 72 65 69, J. T. Poston 68 72 68 64, Sepp Straka (Aut) 66 71 67 68, Harold Varner III 67 72 63 70, Cameron Young 63 73 70 66
273 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 71 70 64 68, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 69 67 67 70
275 Corey Conners (Can) 66 72 68 69, Joel Dahmen 69 67 69 70, Tyler Duncan 68 73 69 65, Adam Long 69 73 67 66, Troy Merritt 69 70 68 68, Matthew NeSmith 70 68 69 68, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 65 72 69 69, Scott Piercy 67 72 69 67, Cameron Tringale 69 67 70 69
276 Daniel Berger 71 70 68 67, Billy Horschel 69 69 67 71, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 70 70 67 69, Graeme McDowell (Irl) 66 76 66 68, Aaron Wise 68 68 68 72
277 Adam Hadwin (Can) 69 69 70 69, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 67 72 71 67, Patton Kizzire 67 71 70 69, Maverick McNealy 71 70 65 71, Collin Morikawa 70 70 69 68, Kevin Na 70 69 68 70, Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi) 66 71 69 71, Adam Svensson (Can) 66 73 67 71, Brendon Todd 72 68 68 69
278 Wyndham Clark 68 73 66 71, Doug Ghim 70 72 67 69, Branden Grace (Rsa) 71 70 68 69, Brian Harman 72 70 68 68, Jason Kokrak 70 68 70 70, Hudson Swafford 69 69 66 74, Justin Thomas 70 71 70 67
279 Si Woo Kim (Kor) 69 70 71 69, Peter Malnati 69 73 65 72, Alexander Noren (Swe) 70 70 67 72, Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 70 70 71 68, Ian Poulter (Eng) 71 68 67 73, Robert Streb 68 67 71 73
280 Lucas Glover 68 71 68 73, Doc Redman 69 71 70 70, Joseph Bramlett 69 73 74 64
281 Brian Gay 67 75 68 71, Pat Perez 68 73 69 71, Danny Willett (Eng) 70 72 67 72
282 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 72 71 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 71 71 72 68
283 Luke Donald (Eng) 70 69 76 68, Jim Herman 69 71 70 73, Denny McCarthy 67 75 70 71
284 Bill Haas 67 74 68 75, Ben Martin 71 70 68 75, Chad Ramey 67 70 71 76, Webb Simpson 69 73 69 73, Roger Sloan (Can) 68 71 72 73, Camilo Villegas (Col) 71 67 74 72, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 67 74 71 72
285 Dylan Frittelli (Rsa) 70 71 68 76, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 69 73 69 74
287 Stewart Cink 67 75 71 74
288 Brian Stuard 73 69 75 71
290 Jonathan Byrd 68 74 78 70, Sahith Theegala 71 70 70 79
