Mixed priorities
Shane Lowry had two very strong reasons for wanting to play late on Saturday in Arnold Palmer
Shane Lowry watches his approach into the 18th green in the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
David Cannon
ORLANDO — Shane Lowry has thrived the first two rounds at the Arnold Palmer Invitational under withering pressure. The Irishman came to Bay Hill Club desperate to put himself in position to win the $20 million signature event after a breakthrough third-place finish a year ago.
“It was either a late tee time or no tee time for me,” he said Friday after he capped a five-under-par 67 to surge to a two-stroke lead over Wyndham Clark through 36 holes at eight-under 136.
Go big or go home to Jupiter, Fla. Wait, no. Go for broke. Arnie would approve.
Barring some inspired play by those still on the course, Lowry is poised to tee off in Saturday’s final pairing at 1:50 p.m. ET. Perfect. His family gets in town Friday night. He can enjoy the pleasure of their company before he heads to the course.
But first, he has some other business. Rugby. The Six Nations Championship. Ireland leads in the standings. He just wasn't going to miss it.
“I really wanted to have time to watch Ireland in the match against France in the morning,” he explained, "so it's on at 9:15 [a.m.] our time. I'll be able to watch that, which, that’s going to be good.”
A lot of pressure there.
“Yeah, you aren’t kidding,” he said with a huge grin.
Last year’s encouraging result aside, Lowry, 37, hasn’t much enjoyed his time at Bay Hill. In five appearances, the three-time PGA Tour winner and 2019 British Open champion missed the cut in his first four starts before a T-67 finish in 2023 and his third in ’24.
“Yeah, it's funny, when you have success, especially on a difficult place, like this it doesn't mean you come here the next year and you have a God-given right to go and play well,” the amiable Lowry pointed out. “You still need to play your game and execute. So I was kind of conscious of that.”
Usually, he tends to handle difficult courses fairly well. Which made his early struggles at Bay Hill a bit of a mystery. He wasn’t quite sure why he has turned things around the last two years, especially considering that he has been tinkering with drivers this week and lacks confidence off the tee. But he’s been a man on a mission to avoid an early tee time.
“I just like the grind of pars are good, you know,” Lowry said. “There's a lot of weeks out here where you get where you shoot level par for nine holes and you feel like you're beating your head against the wall. Whereas, weeks like this, level par after nine you're actually doing OK. You're a little run away from having a lovely day. I like the type of golf where any time you break 70 you feel like you've had a good day.”
He had himself a lovely day with only one bogey on the card against six birdies.
It sets Lowry up for a lovely Saturday morning before attending to the business of his profession. Priorities, you know.