Shane Lowry just four back in crowded Canadian Open field
The world No 12 missed just two greens in regulation, a major requirement in next week's US Open, as he made three birdies and a lone bogey to share 16th on 10-under in Toronto.
He's just four strokes behind Italy's Matteo Manassero and New Zealander Ryan Fox, who both shot six-under 64s on Saturday to share the third-round lead.
Manassero fought back from a three-putt bogey on the 17th with a birdie on the par-five 18th to get to 14-under on the North Course at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley.
'I missed the short one on 17, and I did miss a couple more short ones today,' Manassero said after hitting his 80-yard third to two feet at the last.
'I try to think of them just like a shot, really, like a driver, like a six-iron, whatever.
'It's just a shot. So I don't want it to get in my head, and I don't want that to ruin anything or my attitude going towards the next shots.'
Seeking his first win on the PGA Tour, Manaserro (32) overcame a severe slump to win back his DP World Tour card and earn dual membership of the US circuit.
'I try to get a good attitude, a good thought process, talk well to myself,' he said. 'Very basic things.
'I've matured a lot and I have a better perspective towards, for example, a day like tomorrow."
Powerful hitter Fox (38) also birdied the 18th as he bids to add to his maiden win following a play-off in the Myrtle Beach Classic last month.
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'To be honest, everything went pretty right,' Fox said. 'I drove it great. I think if you do that round here, you give yourself lots of chances.
'Had a lot of good wedge shots, holed a few putts early. Just played really solid kind of stress-free golf for the most part.'
The top 28 on the leaderboard are covered by just five strokes.
Lee Hodges and Kevin Yu shot 63 and Matt McCarty a 64 trail the leaders by just one stroke behind on 13-under.
Canadian Mackenzie Hughes (64) was 12-under with Jake Knapp (66) and Andrew Putnam (68).
'I've been putting the ball in play quite a bit, driving it pretty nice,' Hughes said. 'I feel like that's taken some pressure off the putter and the short game. It's a big key around here. You start driving it well, you can attack and be aggressive.'
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The Journal
3 hours ago
- The Journal
Shane Lowry stays four shots off the lead at Canadian Open
The 42 IRELAND'S SHANE LOWRY remains four shots off the lead after moving day at the RBC Canadian Open. Lowry shot another round of 68 in to stay in contention in Toronto. Italy's Matteo Manassero and Ryan Fox of New Zealand share the lead on 14-under for the tournament. You can follow the leaderboard here> It's tight at the top, with Lowry in a nine-way tie for 16th on 10-under. The Offaly man has now carded back to back 68s, having opened with a 64. He started on the front nine today, birdying the eighth, 11th and 13th, while he dropped a shot on hole 12. Rory McIlroy missed the cut, while Seamus Power withdrew during his first round on Friday. Italian veteran Manassero is poised to challenge for his first US PGA Tour title after conjuring seven birdies in a six-under par 64 to share the 54-hole lead with Fox. Fox also fired seven birdies and a bogey at TPC Toronto Osprey Valley, their 14-under par total of 196 putting the leaders one stroke clear atop a congested leaderboard, with 22 more players within four strokes of the lead. On a day when as many as 11 players shared the lead at one point, Manassero was the first to reach 14-under with his sixth birdie of the day at the 15th. He bogeyed 17, where he was in the left rough off the tee and missed a four-footer to save par, but he birdied the par-five 18th. 'It was a really good round,' Manassero said. 'I missed the short one on 17, and I did miss a couple more short ones today. I try to think of them just like a shot really, like a driver, like a six-iron, whatever. It's just a shot. 'It wasn't that hard for me to stay focused into what I was doing and not ruining (it) at the end.' Advertisement Matteo Manassero (file photo). Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO Manassero, a five-time winner on the DP World Tour, is seeking his first US tour title. The 32-year-old Italian has revived his career after briefly walking away from the game in the midst of a prolonged slump. He claimed his first DP World Tour victory in more than a decade in March of 2024. 'It's definitely made me more mature and much better perspective towards golf, which at one point was everything,' he said of the ups and downs of his career. 'I have a better perspective towards, for example, a day like tomorrow.' Fox, 38, is aiming to build off his first US PGA Tour title, captured in a playoff at the Myrtle Beach Classic last month. He launched his round with three straight birdies and had five on the front nine, bouncing back from a bogey at 11 — where he was in the water — with birdies at 12 and 18. Stress-free golf 'To be honest, everything went pretty right,' Fox said. 'I drove it great. I think, if you do that round here, you give yourself lots of chances. 'Had a lot of good wedge shots, holed a few putts early. Just played really solid kind of stress-free golf for the most part.' Americans Lee Hodges and Mat McCarty and Taiwan's Kevin Yu were tied for third on 13-under 197. Hodges bookended his seven-under 63 with eagles at the first and 18th, with three birdies in between. Yu had eight birdies and a bogey in his 63 while McCarty had seven birdies in his 64. Canadian Mackenzie Hughes and Americans Jake Knapp and Andrew Putnam were tied on 12-under, one stroke clear of a group of seven players on 11-under 199, while Lowry headlined a group of nine players on 200. Fox said his victory last month had him feeling 'more comfortable in my own shoes,' but he with so many within striking distance he said that Sunday promised to be a shoot-out. 'Obviously there's a lot of good players behind me,' he said. 'I feel like it's going to take a pretty low (score) to get the job done.' © AFP 2025 Written by AFP and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won't find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women's sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here .
Irish Independent
7 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Shane Lowry just four back in crowded Canadian Open field
The world No 12 missed just two greens in regulation, a major requirement in next week's US Open, as he made three birdies and a lone bogey to share 16th on 10-under in Toronto. He's just four strokes behind Italy's Matteo Manassero and New Zealander Ryan Fox, who both shot six-under 64s on Saturday to share the third-round lead. Manassero fought back from a three-putt bogey on the 17th with a birdie on the par-five 18th to get to 14-under on the North Course at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. 'I missed the short one on 17, and I did miss a couple more short ones today,' Manassero said after hitting his 80-yard third to two feet at the last. 'I try to think of them just like a shot, really, like a driver, like a six-iron, whatever. 'It's just a shot. So I don't want it to get in my head, and I don't want that to ruin anything or my attitude going towards the next shots.' Seeking his first win on the PGA Tour, Manaserro (32) overcame a severe slump to win back his DP World Tour card and earn dual membership of the US circuit. 'I try to get a good attitude, a good thought process, talk well to myself,' he said. 'Very basic things. 'I've matured a lot and I have a better perspective towards, for example, a day like tomorrow." Powerful hitter Fox (38) also birdied the 18th as he bids to add to his maiden win following a play-off in the Myrtle Beach Classic last month. ADVERTISEMENT 'To be honest, everything went pretty right,' Fox said. 'I drove it great. I think if you do that round here, you give yourself lots of chances. 'Had a lot of good wedge shots, holed a few putts early. Just played really solid kind of stress-free golf for the most part.' The top 28 on the leaderboard are covered by just five strokes. Lee Hodges and Kevin Yu shot 63 and Matt McCarty a 64 trail the leaders by just one stroke behind on 13-under. Canadian Mackenzie Hughes (64) was 12-under with Jake Knapp (66) and Andrew Putnam (68). 'I've been putting the ball in play quite a bit, driving it pretty nice,' Hughes said. 'I feel like that's taken some pressure off the putter and the short game. It's a big key around here. You start driving it well, you can attack and be aggressive.'
Irish Times
9 hours ago
- Irish Times
Oakmont designers wound the clock back 100 years to give iconic course a new feel for US Open
Time brings change. It always does. The evolution of the golf course at Oakmont Country Club, northeast of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, has been ongoing for more than a century. The players who have qualified for next week's US Open at the famed venue are in for a test of skills and nerve. The challenge provided by a venue that has hosted the championship more often than anywhere else remains the same. It will be very tough. Bryson DeChambeau , on a reconnaissance visit ahead of the championship – which he had the decency to share with his followers on YouTube – sought to highlight the depth and thickness of the rough on a course known as The Beast. He did this by dropping a ball into the knee-high grass, where it disappeared from view. He didn't seek to play the shot, wise man that he is. Perhaps he learned from the past misfortune of others. That rough, of course, has always retained a share of notoriety. Phil Mickelson showed foresight in making an advance visit to the venue ahead of the US Open in 2007. Unfortunately, his decision backfired when he attempted to play out of the rough in a practice round two weeks ahead of the championship. It resulted in injury and required strapping in the week that mattered. READ MORE 'There were dozens of players who got hurt the week of the Open that particular year,' Mickelson recalled. 'I wasn't the only one. I was fortunate that it wasn't anything serious, it was just a bone bruise. It went away after 12 weeks.' Oakmont's beastly reputation has been established through the years. Gene Sarazen, the US Open winner of 1922 and 1932, once said Oakmont possessed 'all the charm of a sock to the head'. Johnny Miller – who won the US Open there – described it as 'the most difficult test of golf in America.' Tiger Woods , competing there in 2007, described the putting surfaces as 'by far the most difficult greens I've ever played'. Ahead of next week's tournament, it goes without saying that further changes will have been made to the course since it last hosted the US Open in 2016. That was the year Dustin Johnson won his first Major title. The 2016 tournament was notable for the dramatic change in aesthetics since the 2007 win by Angel Cabrera. Thousands of trees were removed from the course in that nine-year window to bring back back the original design concepts of designer Henry Clay Fownes, who built the course on rolling farmland with the aid of 150 men and two dozen mules. It opened for play in 1903 and has challenged ever since, with lightning fast greens and a vast array of bunker systems. Oakmont has been through several design changes but the level of difficulty has never compromised. Photograph:The latest alterations to the course were overseen by the ingenuity of Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner in a project that started in 2022. Hanse and Wagner are a design team with a list of impressive projects under their belt, including Narin and Portnoo in Co Donegal. Their work at Oakmont has brought the course closer to how Fownes and his son WC envisaged it. That's not to say it is identical. For starters, it is almost 1,000 yards longer these days. Suffice to say, the improvements in club design and golf balls compensate for that. The pews were also rebuilt to be less consistent from pew to pew, much like the ones originally constructed by the Fowneses — Gil Hanse Hanse and Wagner were initially brought in to improve drainage and irrigation (the old system was 20 years old) on the course before the club decided that a more substantial restoration project was also needed. The underlying remit never changed. That is, Oakmont was to retain its reputation as one of the toughest championship challenges around. The greens – the true defence of the course – have been expanded. In doing this, Hanse and Wagner tried to be faithful to Fownes's original thinking. Their nips and tucks have added an estimated 15 per cent more putting surface and created new hole locations. 'We referenced a lot of early photos, 1920s and 1930s, to come up with the look and feel of the greens,' said Hanse. 'In their original configurations, the greens didn't change much during the Fownes tenure. They were much more of a table-top nature. Over time they had evolved through sand buildup along the edges, to a place where the putting surface was not the high point of the green complex—the edges were higher than the centre. We have reversed that and they now flow directly into the bunkers, rather than the bunkers flowing into the greens.' The design team estimates that 24,000 sq f of green expansions have been installed across all 18 holes. This is most notable with a 2,500 sq f expansion at the par-four third. There are also green-surface additions to holes two, seven, 13, 16 and 18. Much of the design duo's work focused on reviving the original plateau greens that fed into the greenside bunkers. The design tweaking extended beyond the greens, with the famous church-pew bunkering – which align the left sides of the third and fourth holes – also getting a makeover. Two grassy mounds have been added and the length extended to 100 yards. Oakmont's church-pew bunkers have been redesigned to resemble aspects of the original course in the early 20th century. Photograph:'We wanted to make sure the pews were still in position to challenge the landing area of the longest players,' said Hanse. 'The pews were also rebuilt to be less consistent from pew to pew, much like the ones originally constructed by the Fowneses.' Hanse remarked on how he and Wager went about their business of reinventing the original. 'We researched the course from 1903 to 1947, the period during which at least one of the Fowneses was involved in the design decisions. During that time, the course underwent changes almost on an annual basis. As a result, it would have been truly difficult to determine what iteration of the entire course was best. 'So we decided, with the club's support, to look at each hole on an individual basis and try to determine which iteration of each hole would be the best fit for the way the game is played today. This creates an eclectic 18 holes, with the common denominator being that one of the Fowneses was involved in the creation of that version of the hole.' When the 2021 US Amateur Championship – won by James Piot – was played at Oakmont, some players used unusual cross-country routes to navigate a way from tee to green. They opted to hit tee shots to adjoining fairways to make for easier approach shots. The design work conducted by Hanse and Wagner will likely put a stop to such uncharted shot-making. This is best illustrated by their expansion of the bunker complex between the 10th and 11th holes, while they also reconstructed the ditch that crosses the 10th fairway at a 45-degree angle. For all the changes and indeed the throwback to the past, one thing is for sure – Oakmont will be as tough a course as ever. Nothing new there. The day DJ ruled the roost The rules of golf, by their nature, are complex. However, the final round of the US Open at Oakmont in 2016 brought a farcical element to their interpretation and implementation. That was the day Dustin Johnson accidentally moved his ball a fraction on the fifth green of his final round. After initially being exonerated of any wrongdoing, he was informed on the 12th hole that the USGA was reviewing video evidence and considering imposing a penalty. Dustin Johnson's US Open victory at Oakmont in 2016 was not without drama. Photograph:As it happened, the one-stroke penalty which came his way didn't affect the outcome. Johnson finished with a four-stroke winning margin, subsequently reduced to three, to claim his breakthrough Major win. Johnson's infringement on the fifth green involved his ball moving a couple of dimples. It was a marginal movement. DJ along with playing partner Lee Westwood and the USGA rules official, deemed there to be no issue, only for it to be subsequently reviewed by video evidence. Johnson was only informed after his round that he would incur the one-stroke penalty after being judged to have been responsible for moving his ball a fraction of an inch. [ Scottie Scheffler's absence from Canadian Open might just be a relief for Rory McIlroy Opens in new window ] The rule in play for the incident on the fifth green was '18.2: Ball at Rest moved by Player, Partner, Caddie or Equipment'. Based on the information, the referee determined that it was more likely than not that Johnson had not caused the movement. The referee instructed Johnson to play the ball as it lies (from its new location) without penalty. Because of that instruction, the player did not incur a second penalty for playing the ball from the wrong place. The Oakmont greens are among the fastest on any championship rota and other players had issues. Shane Lowry, in his second round, called a penalty on himself for a similar slight movement when addressing a putt. The unfairness of the rule – compounded by the delay of the USGA in dealing with the matter – led to a reconsideration of its interpretation. The USGA and the R&A, the worldwide governing bodies, ultimately changed the rule. Subsequently, a new rule was introduced so that any accidental movement of the ball would not incur a penalty. You can thank Dustin Johnson for that.
