‘Maybe I’m just good’: Shane Lowry’s historic Masters ace puts him in green-jacket contention

For some time now, Shane Lowry has had a thing with making holes-in-one. But the ace he made on Saturday of this 2026 Masters was his most important one for two reasons. One, it made Masters history. Two, it vaulted Lowry into contention to win his first green jacket and second major title.

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

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

As his Saturday Masters tee time approached, Lowry was tied for 5th with 36 holes to go. One problem: the leader, Rory McIlroy, was seven shots ahead of him.

Still, with lots of golf left to be played, and endless opportunities for scoring swings on Augusta’s treacherous greens, Lowry still had an outside shot at slipping on the green jacket in a few days.

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

Then came the 6th.

Lowry set up on the tee with a 7-iron in his hand and stared down the gettable pin location. He sent his ball on a straight line at the flag.

As it landed on the green, someone at Augusta could be overheard on the broadcast saying, “Right at it baby.”

Lowry’s ball then traced toward the hole and dropped in the cup, with the CBS TV booth remarking, “Right at it, how about right in!”

Lowry launched into a celebration on the tee box, filled with double fist-pumps, hugs and high-fives. There was much to celebrate.

With the hole-in-one at 6, Lowry became the first player in Masters history to make two holes-in-one. His first came 10 years ago at 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 on Saturday.)

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

“My dad just said that to me walking up the 18th. Yeah, yeah, it’s pretty cool. All you get is two bits of crystal. You don’t get much else,” Lowry said laughing.

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

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

“That’s wild, isn’t it? Made one a couple of weeks ago in Houston. You don’t ever expect to make a hole-in-one. I just couldn’t believe it. Obviously, you know, you’re out there, and you’re in the hunt at the Masters and you’re making hole-in-one, it’s pretty cool,” Lowry reflected after the round. “The walk down the 6th hole with everyone around 16 and the 6th was very special. I’ll remember that for a while. Yeah, it was obviously amazing.”

Lowry’s affinity for holes-in-one is not limited to his two Masters aces, or his ace at the Texas Children’s Houston Open this year. He’s also made holes-in-one in competition at Pebble Beach’s iconic par-3 7th hole (last year) and TPC Sawgrass’ legendary island-green 17th (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 Saturday night along with a quip.

“Maybe I’m just good,” Lowry said laughing. “I don’t know. I don’t know. Like, sort of… plays a strength of my game, and yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know.”

He also acknowledged the extra adrenaline rush provided by his ace at the 6th on Saturday, given that it launched him into contention.

“Yeah, you know, it gives you obviously a huge kind of boost,” he said. “You go from six under to eight under, and then all of a sudden you’re only four back. It’s getting real now.”

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

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

Sitting seven back of McIlroy before Round 3, Lowry watched some early coverage Saturday morning and noticed the course appeared more “gettable” than the previous few days.

That left him worried that McIlroy could truly run away with things on Saturday.

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

But Lowry also knew that playing with big leads at Augusta National is no easy task, and that anything could happen, as he revealed Saturday after his round.

“But the thing is, it’s not easy to go out and go after it when you’re at the top of the leaderboard. Not that it’s easy to do it. But when you’re down the field and you’re just having a go at it, it makes it a little bit easier and you can play a bit more freely. When you are out there in the hunt you need to be a little bit more protective of what you are doing,” he explained.

The pressure certainly seemed to get to McIlroy on Saturday. He struggled to a one-over 73 as Lowry and the rest of the contenders went low.

But Lowry knew one thing before his round that didn’t change when he was finished. The only thing that really matters is Sunday’s final round.

“Yeah, it obviously wasn’t going to be an easy day for Rory to shoot 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, that’s when, you know, we’ll see what everyone is made of.”