Shane Lowry’s challenge faded in the wind on the third day of the Honda Classic in Florida as the Irishman carded a four over par round of 74 to slip back to three under, seven shots behind leader Matt Jones.
With the wind gusting at PGA National, Lowry was well in it after nine holes thanks to eight consecutive pars and a birdie at the Par 4 ninth to move to eight under and into a tie for second.
However, it all unravelled on the back nine when the Offalyman found the water with his second shot at the 11th which would lead to a bogey and set off a run of dropped shots.
More bogeys followed at the 12th, the 14th, the 16th and the Par 5 18th to leave the 2019 British Open champion signing for a back nine of 40 and a three under par total for the tournament in a tie for 18th.
The difficulty of the conditions in Palm Beach Gardens were clear to see in the scores as Jones managed to pull three shots clear with a one under par round of 69.
The two-time Australian Open champion, who led after shooting 61 in the first round, battled the gusty conditions to get to 10 under overall and in prime position to claim his second PGA tour title.
His playing partner Aaron Wise of the US led early on and was six shots clear at one point after early birdies at the second and fourth but a double bogey at the Par 4 sixth turned out to be the turning point as he would drop five more shots on the way in, finishing the day with a 75 and leaving him in a tie for second at seven under par alongside JB Holmes who shot a 67.
Collated third round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour The Honda Classic, PGA National (Champion), Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, United States of America (USA unless stated, Par 70):
200 Matt Jones (Aus) 61 70 69
203 Aaron Wise 64 64 75, J. B. Holmes 69 67 67
204 Chengtsung Pan (Tai) 67 72 65, Ryder 69 63 72, Cameron Tringale 67 68 69
205 Keegan Bradley 69 69 67, Stewart Cink 71 64 70, Brice Garnett 71 64 70, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 68 68 69, Zach Johnson 67 68 70, Robert Streb 69 66 70
206 Lucas Glover 71 66 69, Russell Henley 64 69 73, Chris Kirk 68 71 67, Roger Sloan (Can) 71 69 66, Camilo Villegas (Col) 69 65 72
207 Ryan Armour 70 71 66, Cameron Davis (Aus) 66 71 70, Adam Hadwin (Can) 72 65 70, Shane Lowry (Irl) 67 66 74, Denny McCarthy 68 65 74, Sepp Straka (Aut) 68 70 69, Steve Stricker 66 71 70, Harold Varner III 71 65 71, Brandon Hagy 69 62 76
208 Will Gordon 67 69 72, John Huh 68 70 70, Phil Mickelson 71 68 69, Alexander Noren (Swe) 71 68 69, Adam Scott (Aus) 69 67 72, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven) 71 68 69, Vincent Whaley 73 67 68
209 Lucas Herbert (Aus) 70 69 70, Harry Higgs 68 67 74, Tyler McCumber 70 69 70, Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 69 67 73, Brendan Steele 73 65 71, Kevin Streelman 69 67 73, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 70 70 69
210 Jim Herman 70 71 69, Mark Hubbard 68 73 69, William McGirt 69 69 72, Adam Schenk 72 66 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 70 69 71, Chase Seiffert 67 74 69, Michael Thompson 71 66 73
211 Kevin Chappell 66 70 75, Jason Dufner 68 68 75, Brian Gay 71 67 73, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 68 72 71, Tom Lewis (Eng) 74 66 71, Matthew NeSmith 70 68 73, Stephen Stallings Jr. 71 70 70
212 Scott Harrington 66 67 79, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 70 71 71, Chase Koepka 69 69 74, Keith Mitchell 69 69 74, Pat Perez 72 69 71
213 Talor Gooch 72 69 72, Beau Hossler 71 70 72, Nate Lashley 68 71 74
214 Jimmy Walker 69 68 77
215 Ted Potter Jr. 70 71 74, D. J. Trahan 68 71 76
216 Rickie Fowler 70 68 78, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 70 71 75
217 Bronson Burgoon 69 70 78
