With 12 new clubs and ball, Shane Lowry leaps into contention in Abu Dhabi

Saturday 09th November 2024 05:18 PM

New sticks, no problem for Shane Lowry.

Lowry leapt up the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Saturday with his second straight 6-under 66, just his third round since swapping out 12 clubs and his golf ball.

“What’s going on before me, I haven’t really thought about,” said Lowry, who at 15 under sits just three shots back of leader Paul Waring. “I’ve just been trying to get used to this, and it’s going very well so far. Hopefully, it keeps going that way.”

Lowry’s new Cleveland/Srixon equipment are all prototypes:

ZX Proto driver (9.5 degrees)
ZX Proto driving iron (3)
ZX Proto irons (4-PW)
Cleveland Proto wedges (50, 54 and 58 degrees)
Proto Z-Star XV ball

Staying in Lowry’s bag are his TaylorMade M5 fairway wood (18.25 degrees) and TaylorMade Spider Tour Z putter.

“My game, like, I’ve been driving the ball really good, my iron play has been great,” Lowry said. “You know, I probably haven’t been holing as many putts as I would like. I feel like I’m putting all right, hitting good putts, not missing the shorter ones. And I feel like, yeah, a few putts drop, I can be dangerous.”

Lowry opened with a 6-under 30 on Yas Links’ front nine on Saturday, a stretch highlighted by his 36-foot eagle make at the par-5 second hole. He bogeyed the par-3 17th, his only blemish, but backed that up with a closing birdie at the par-5 18th.

Waring, who posted the lowest 36-hole score in relation to par in DP World Tour history, came back to the field with a third-round 73 and only leads Niklas Norgaard by a shot. Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen and Sebastian Soderberg are tied with Lowry for third.

Rory McIlroy is T-13 at 13 under after a third-round 69, which was capped by a double bogey on No. 18. McIlroy is 3 over on Nos. 17-18 this week.

“Untimely mistake,” McIlroy said, “just like yesterday on 17 and dug myself a little bit of a hole to get out of. … I just need to put it all together and play the way I’ve been playing and keep the big mistakes and big numbers off my card, and if I can do that and post a score, you never know.”