Shane Lowry’s historic Masters ace puts him in contention for green jacket

For some time now, Shane Lowry has had a problem with creating holes-in-one. But that’s what he did on Saturday this Master 2026 it was his most important for two reasons. One, she made Masters history. Second, it put Lowry in contention to win his first green jacket and the second major title.

The incredible, history-making dunk came Augusta National The difficult par-3 6th hole in Saturday’s third round left a smiling Lowry joking with reporters and dreaming of Masters glory.

Shane Lowry makes history with second hole-in-one Masters, eyes win

Heading into his Saturday practice session for the Masters, Lowry was tied for 5th with 36 holes to go. A problem: the leader, Rory McIlroyit Was seven shots ahead of him.

Still, with plenty of golf to play and endless opportunities to score swings on Augusta’s treacherous greens, Lowry still had an outside shot at slipping into the green jacket in a few days.

He made an early birdie at 2 to move to six under. McIlroy, on the other hand, was stuck in neutral to start the day. Soon, the gap between Lowry and McIlroy was down to six.

Then came the 6th.

Lowry settled on the fairway with a 7-iron in hand and stared down at the location of the table pin. He sent his ball straight to the flag.

As he landed on the green, someone at Augusta could be heard on the air saying, “Okay baby.”

Lowry’s ball then tracked toward the hole and dropped into the cup, with the CBS TV booth remarking, “Right away, how about you go in!”

Lowry launched into a tee box party, complete with double fist pumps, hugs and high fives. There was much to celebrate.

With the hole in one on 6, Lowry became the first player in Masters history to make two holes in one. His first came 10 years ago on the par-3 16th hole during the 2016 Masters. (Lowry also made a hole-in-one a few weeks ago at the 2026 Texas Children’s Houston Open, using the exact same 7-iron he used Saturday.)

A reporter asked him about his historic achievement after the round.

“My dad just told me that walking up the 18th. Yeah, yeah, it’s pretty good. All you get is two pieces of crystal. You don’t get much more,” Lowry said with a laugh.

He was, of course, joking. Because Lowry’s ace Saturday gave him something else: a chance to win his first Masters.

With the hole in one, Lowry jumped from six under to eight under, leaving him just four shots off McIlroy’s lead at the time.

“That’s wild, isn’t it? I did one a few weeks ago in Houston. You don’t expect to get a hole-in-one. I just couldn’t believe it. Obviously, you know, you’re there, and you’re in the hunt at the Masters, and you’re hole-in-one, it’s pretty cool.” “Walking down the 6th hole with everyone around 16 and 6 was pretty special. I’ll remember that for a while. Yeah, it was definitely amazing.”

Lowry’s affinity for holes-in-one isn’t limited to his two Masters aces, or his ace at the Texas Children’s Houston Open this year. He has also made hole-in-ones in competition on Pebble Beach’s iconic par-3 7th hole (last year) and The legendary 17th green of TPC Sawgrass (during the 2022 Players Championship).

Why is he so good at making aces? The 2019 Open champion is as mystified as the rest of us, as he revealed on Saturday night along with a joke.

“Maybe I’m good,” Lowry said with a laugh. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Like, it kind of… plays a strength of my game, and yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know.”

He also acknowledged the extra adrenaline rush his ace on the 6th provided on Saturday, as it got him into contention.

“Yeah, you know, it definitely gives you kind of a big boost,” he said. “You go from six under eight to eight under, and then all of a sudden you’re only four behind. Now it’s getting real.”

Lowry was proud of how he responded to the big moment, staying within himself to close out a four-under 68 that leaves him just three shots behind co-leaders McIlroy and Cameron Young heading into Sunday.

“I felt like I did a great job of calming myself down afterwards. Neil and I have been talking all week about the only shot that matters is the next one. I hit a fantastic shot on the 7th and I was very happy and proud of that because it’s easy to get a bit overwhelmed in areas like that. Your adrenaline is pumping.”

Sitting seven behind McIlroy before Round 3, Lowry saw some coverage early Saturday morning and noted that the course looked more “accessible” than in previous days.

That made him worried that McIlroy could really get away with things on Saturday.

“I thought if Rory could shoot a 68 today, he could run away with the tournament. The course, they made it a little more accessible today. I noticed on TV this morning that the greens were softer than yesterday,” Lowry said Saturday night.

But Lowry knew it, too Playing with big leads at Augusta National is no easy taskand that anything can happen, as he found out on Saturday after his round.

“But the thing is, it’s not easy to go out and chase him when you’re at the top of the leaderboard. Not that it’s easy to do that. But when you’re on the court and you’re just doing it, it makes it a little bit easier and you can play a little bit more loosely. When you’re out there in the hunt, you have to be a little bit more guarded about what he’s doing.”

The pressure certainly seemed to get to McIlroy on Saturday. He battled to a one over 73 while Lowry and the rest of the contenders went down.

But Lowry knew one thing before his round that didn’t change when it ended. The only thing that really matters it’s Sunday’s final round.

“Yeah, obviously it wasn’t going to be an easy day for Rory to get a score… but we all know it’s all about tomorrow. You know what I mean?” Lowry said. “Obviously it matters, today, but when we get to tomorrow, then we’ll see what they’re all made of.”