Shane Lowry hangs tough to survive testing round at US Open as Tom McKibbin sparkles

Shane Lowry survived what he described as Pinehurst’s “torture” chamber to fire a brilliant 70 and immediately headed for the sofa to watch the best in the world try to survive a brutal US Open test.

As Major winners Matt Fitzpatrick and Francesco Molinari crashed to respective rounds of 79 and 77, the Offaly man was thrilled to salvage a par at the last and shoot level-par to remain on five-over-par — just five shots off what he reckons will be close to the winning score.

“That’s torture,” Lowry declared after cancelling out bogeys at the first, eighth and 14th with birdies at the sixth, seventh and 16th and a two-putt par from 50 feet short of the 18th.

“That’s the best level-par I have ever shot in my life. Honestly, every single shot you have, even when you hit a good shot, the putts you have, every single shot is brutally difficult, and, yes, I am looking forward to sitting back for the afternoon. It should be interesting.”

With a 10-15mph breeze adding to the difficulty of tackling a hard and fast course and turtle-backed greens, Lowry admitted yesterday was a huge mental test.

“You are standing in the middle of the fairway on par fours with an eight-iron, and you are like, ‘where will I miss this?’. It is not, ‘where will I hit this? Where is the miss? If I hit it over there, I can two-putt it from there’. That’s the way to do it. So, yeah, not much crack out there to be honest.”

The Offaly man was tied for 42nd when he finished but he looked likely to move well up the leaderboard as the leaders headed out.

Beaming from ear to ear, he added: “I’m going to go home and lie on the couch for a few hours. Another round of level-par, and it will be a great tournament, I think.

“If I somehow manage to shoot under-par [tomorrow], it will be better obviously. All in all, it has been a good first three days.”

As for the leader, he advised patience in spades.

“I think level-par is not going to be too far away this weekend,” he said.

“I think the leaders and the guys that are under par just need to get it into their heads level-par with nine holes to play tomorrow will have a chance.”

Embracing the torture is key and Irish golf appears to have a new star in Tom McKibbin, who looks ready to follow in the footsteps of his hero Rory McIlroy.

Almost 17 years after McIlroy finished 42nd as an amateur in The Open at Carnoustie, where Pádraig Harrington ended a 60-year wait for an Irish Major win, McKibbin has a chance today to improve on that watershed performance.

​The Newtownabbey talent (21) has been a revelation on his US Open (and Major) debut at Pinehurst No 2, making the cut on the limit thanks to a gutsy birdie at the 18th on Friday night before backing up rounds of 74 and 71 with another 71 in yesterday’s sun-scorched third round.

The epitome of cool, McKibbin went to the turn in three-over 38 but never once looked frustrated by conditions that saw the likes of Fitzpatrick and Molinari struggle.

He didn’t just steady the ship on the back nine; he played it in two-under 33, rolling in a six-footer at the 12th and a nine-footer at the difficult par-three 15th en route to a one-over 71 matched by Brooks Koepka and world No 1 Scottie Scheffler.

“Obviously, two-under on the back nine, I didn’t really miss a shot and played very, very good,” he said.

“It was nice to get those back after a few sort of silly mistakes on eight and nine. But, overall, 71 on a Saturday around here with a little bit of wind was nice.”

As carnage ensued around him, McKibbin was thrilled to pass an important litmus test.

“I’ve been looking forward to it,” he said. “I wanted it to be hard just to get the experience of it really.

“Making that birdie on 18 last night was very important. I think I would have been gutted if I’d missed the cut by one. I would rather have shot 80 and missed the cut by a mile.

“It was very important for me to experience these last few days here at a Major and I think it’ll do me well.”

As for his apparent immunity to the frustrations that have driven others to distraction, McKibbin added: “I wouldn’t say I have come close to losing the head. I’ve obviously got frustrated . . . I’m just happy to be here and be playing nicely, so no reason to lose the head tomorrow.”

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