Round 3 leader Shane Lowry devastated after poor final round at US Open
By Keith Jackson
SKYSPORTS.COM
Shane Lowry admitted he was
"bitterly disappointed" at being unable to hang on to a commanding
54-hole lead in the final round of the US Open.
Sunday started positively for Lowry as he birdied 15 and 17
before completing a third-round 65 which doubled his overnight two-shot
lead, but his composure deserted him over the final 18 holes as he
slumped to a 76 which left him three shots behind champion Dustin
Johnson. Three bogeys on the front nine added up to an outward 38,
and he dropped another shot at the 10th before hauling himself back
into contention with a birdie at the long 12th, where he almost holed
his pitch for eagle.
But
three consecutive three-putts at 14, 15 and 16 effectively ended his
challenge, and he cut a deflated figure as he holed out at the last to
close on one under with Johnson already confirmed as champion. "I'm
bitterly disappointed standing here," said the Irishman. "It's not easy
to get yourself in a position I got myself in today. It was there for
the taking and I didn't take it, but you can only learn from your
mistakes - I always say it's only a mistake if you don't learn from it.
Three bogeys on the front nine saw Lowry's lead vanish
"I'm
sure I learned a lot from today and I don't know what it is yet, but
when I'm in that position again, and I know I will be, I'll handle it
probably a little bit better." When asked what went wrong having
played so well over the first three days, he added: "I just kept on
hitting okay shots. It wasn't even great shots, it wasn't even bad shots
- I kept hitting it to 25, 30, 35 feet, and on these greens, it's
tricky. I kept leaving myself a lot of work to do, and it caught up with
me on 14.
"I
started a really bad streak there, obviously on 15 and 16 as well. To
do that, at that time in this tournament, the more I think about it, the
more upset I get. So that's the way golf is. I just hope to get on with
that." Lowry also insisted he was unaffected by the situation
involving Johnson after he was made aware mid-round that the American
could have incurred a penalty stroke for an infringement on the fifth
green - a ruling which was not confirmed until after the tournament.
Three consecutive three-putts from the 14th ended his challenge
He
said: "We were told walking on 12, but no, it didn't affect the way I
played. If anything, I credit Dustin for playing the way he played on
the way in, having that hanging over him, because I probably would have
wanted to know straightaway if it was me. "I was aware of what was
going on, and I was just hanging in there. I holed a great putt for par
on 13 which was massive, and I had a great number on 14 but just hit a
really poor shot and it kind of spiraled out of control from there. It
was one of those where I'd give anything to have that wide shot on 14
back again. "Everything happened quickly, but that's what happens
when you play a few bad holes. They're kind of over before you know it
and you'd like to have them back again. I was probably a bit hard on
myself coming in as well, I think if I had have just relaxed a little
bit more, I could have done something a bit better."
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home