The two of them walked up from the 14th green, relaxed and calm. One of them an All-Ireland medal winning footballer, the other his son who – through brilliant shot-making and clear thinking – had manoeuvred his way into the lead at the US Open on a course deemed to be the toughest on this planet.
As Brendan, the dad, and Shane Lowry, the son, moved up the hill towards the clubhouse in the gathering gloom, the cameras flashed to capture the image. It was worth taking, for – after a long old day on the course – the 29-year-old Offalyman had claimed a two stroke lead on his nearest pursuer, Texan Andrew Landry, when a double blast on the fog siren indicated that play had been called due to fading light.
Lowry's 50-hole total – with four holes of his third round to be completed on Sunday morning – of five-under-par had him two shots clear of Landry with Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia and Dustin Johnson, all with holes of their own to complete, a shot further adrift in a share of third.
And if world number one Jason Day steamrolled his way into contention with a third round 66 for 211, one-over, which he managed to complete before sunset, this was a time for Lowry to assume the leadership and to contemplate the possibility of what lies ahead on a Sunday.
“I said to my dad as we walked up that I felt very comfortable out there,” confessed Lowry, and his play and on-course demeanour certainly confirmed that self-analysis. In shooting a second round 70 – during which he had called a penalty stroke on himself for his ball moving on the 16th green, his seventh, after addressing it with his putter – Lowry had played his way into contention.
But it was his play of the third round, in which he got to complete 14 holes, that made him a contender: after a bogey on the second hole, he clicked into gear that had him manoeuvring up the leaderboard with fourth and sixth getting him into a share of the lead before a 20 footer on the seventh moved him into the outright lead.
“I said to my caddie Dermot, ‘this is for the lead’and was trying to talk me down off my pedestal. And then I went ahead and bogeyed the next hole,” laughed Lowry in recalling what he called “a little milestone” in leading a Major on a Saturday afternoon.
If the lead was shortlived due to the bogey on the Par 3 eighth, his response was hugely impressive as he hit an approach from 179 yards on the ninth – the toughest hole on the course – in to six feet to reclaim the outright lead. Further birdie putts on the 10th and 11th refused to drop, but his played the Par 5 12th beautifully and hit a wedge approach to 18 inches to move to five-under and two clear.
From tee-to-green, Lowry played superbly and, on the greens, his putter seemed at one with his hands. How long had it been since he had felt so comfortable on the greens? “Quite a while. I’m not going to say how much, because I don’t want to jinx myself for (Sunday) but I haven’t feel as comfortable on the greens in quite a while.”
Lowry – whose biggest win of his career so far came in the neighbouring state of Ohio, when he won last year’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational – hopes he can use that experience to his benefit as he seeks to close the deal and capture a maiden Major title. “ I beat a field of this quality already (in the Bridgestone). So there’s no reason I can’t go out and do it again,” he said.
Graeme McDowell shot a third round 71 for 214, four-over, to lie in a share of 24th place. After a difficult start which featured four bogeys in his opening seven holes, McDowell salvaged his round with a run of four birdies from the 11th to the 14th.
