The day began with a four-under par 25th, with the 2019 champions making consecutive one-under starts before the start of his round in the par-four ninth hole. A blistering opening drive had him rough to the left of the pin, with Lowry hitting a brilliant 43-yard chip for the Eagles.
A few minutes later, the 35-year-old repeated his eagle feat from three yards ahead, eliciting a huge roar from the crowd looking to find the 10th hole off the fairway.
Entering the final eight holes, Lowry’s heroics were set to chase down second-round leader Cameron Smith, who was six strokes ahead at 13-under. Yet despite the birdie finish, three bogeys in six holes derailed the Irishman’s charge.
Returning to the clubhouse tied 13th at seven-under after shooting 69, Lowry only touched his “pretty cool” Eagle feat.
“It was a lot of fun when they both went in, but the rest of the day was not so pleasant,” he told reporters.
“I think I played fine, but it wouldn’t take Einstein to figure out what went wrong in the last nine. My pour was terrible.
Lowry said, “It’s not good enough when you put in all those hours every day on Saturdays and Sundays on the last nine of a Major to give yourself a chance and you don’t perform, you need to watch something.” “
Saying that he was planning to spend the afternoon practicing putting the beat next to the first tee, Lowry said his performance gave him “no chance” of challenging him to a second Open victory.
“I’m very disappointed to be honest because I worked so hard, and I work very hard to get myself into those positions,” he said.
“Even if I had hidden something for the whole week, I would have played there. I would have been with the leaders… My game has been pretty good all week. To be honest, I think it is to my credit. I played on Sunday Struggled to get into the top 20 here.
“I’m trying my best, I don’t have the answer. If I did, I don’t need to go to the put green anymore. But it’s so hard, this game is tough sometimes.”