Shane Lowry Made U.S. Open History With One Incredible Shot at Oakmont

Shane Lowry made a number never before seen at a U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.
Shane Lowry reacts after realizing he holed out for eagle at Oakmont Country Club.
Shane Lowry reacts after realizing he holed out for eagle at Oakmont Country Club. / @usopengolf / X

Golf fans were promised carnage at this year’s U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club, and through the first wave of tee times Thursday, the course delivered.

While a few players were able to get out and shoot low, of the 78 players that teed off in the morning wave, just eight players were under par by noon ET.

Shane Lowry was one of the players gritting his teeth and grinding through his round at Oakmont, working on a six-over through his first 11 holes, with two bogeys, two doubles and not a birdie in sight on his scorecard.

But on the par-4 3rd hole—the 12th of Lowry’s round as he started on the back nine—Lowry bounced back with one swing from the fairway, holing out for an unlikely eagle. Per the tournament’s social media account, it’s the first eagle ever hit on Oakmont No. 3 during a U.S. Open round.

Golf is a funny game. Right now, the best players in the world are being put through hell on a course that refuses to give an inch, but one good swing can erase an hour’s worth of misery pretty easy.

That said, those strokes can leave as easily as they came. Lowry went on to bogey the par-5 4th on his very next hole.


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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.