Shane Lowry relishes Masters bid as Rory McIlroy seeks answers

Shane Lowry lit up Augusta National with a stunning hole-in-one at the Masters, a moment he later described as “wild” as it thrust him firmly into the hunt going into the final round.

The Offaly golfer has built an enviable catalogue of aces over the years, and this latest effort gave him another slice of history: it was his second at Augusta National, making him the first player ever to achieve that feat.

Lowry’s tee shot at the 190-yard sixth vaulted him from six under to eight under par, and he closed with a 69 to sit on nine under overall, just two shots off the lead.

“That’s wild, isn’t it? I made one a couple of weeks ago in Houston. You don’t ever expect to make a hole-in-one, I just couldn’t believe it,” said the former Open champion, whose previous hole-in-one here came at the 16th in the final round of 2016.

Needing one stroke on No. 6, Shane Lowry cards an ace. #themasters pic.twitter.com/SAr9uy2KBs

— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 11, 2026

“The walk down the sixth hole with everyone around 16 and the sixth was very special. I’ll remember that for a while. It was obviously amazing.

“It gives you obviously a huge kind of boost. You go from six under to eight under and then all of a sudden you’re only four back.

“It’s getting real now. I felt like I did a great job of calming myself down afterwards.”

Lowry has also made aces at the 17th at Sawgrass in 2022 and the seventh at Pebble Beach in January 2025, adding two more famous par threes to his growing list.

Elsewhere, Rory McIlroy went straight to the practice range after a bruising third round left the defence of his title hanging in the balance and a six-shot cushion wiped away.

After Round 2, the County Down star appeared ready to run away with the tournament, having built the largest 36-hole lead in Masters history.

But while the pressure from behind intensified — the nine players directly beneath him all returned rounds in the 60s — the world number two could manage only a one-over 71 after stumbling badly through Amen Corner.

His long-running issues off the tee, which he had largely kept under control through the week, proved costly on Saturday, and he headed directly to the range in search of answers before Sunday’s final pairing with Cameron Young, whose Masters-best 65 moved him to 11 under.

“The course was obviously gettable, there was a lot of good scores out there, and the quality of the chasing pack is obvious,” said McIlroy.

“There’s a lot of guys in with a chance tomorrow. I’m still tied for the best score going into tomorrow, so I can’t forget that, but I do know I’m going to have to be better if I want to have a chance to win.

“I’m in the final group. I just need to go to the range and try to figure it out a little bit.”

Rory McIlroy endured a difficult Saturday at Augusta

McIlroy reached Augusta National’s perilous Amen Corner at 13 under par, three clear of the field but already under mounting pressure.

By the time he emerged, he had slipped one behind Young after a damaging double bogey-bogey-par sequence, having sent a seven iron into the water at the 11th, missed the green at the 12th and driven into the trees at the 13th.

“When you’re not quite feeling it, you struggle. You have to dig deep and I felt like I did that on the front nine and made a lot of good par saves,” he added.

“I missed a couple of chances on eight and nine and then I thought I turned the round around with the birdie on 10.

“I felt like I hit a pretty good second shot on 11 but it just drifted on the wind a little bit and went in the water. Those two holes (11 and 12) weren’t great.

“But again I felt like I bounced back pretty well with the birdies on 14 and 15. It would have been nice to play those last few holes and not make that bogey on 17 but, you know, I still have a great chance.”