Shane Lowry shot a five-under-par 65 on Saturday to extend his lead at the Amgen Irish Open to four shots over Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen, delighting home fans at Trump International Links in Doonbeg on a day when Donald Trump visited the course that carries his name.
The Amgen Irish Open is a long-running fixture on the DP World Tour, and this year's edition is being staged at Trump International Links, a links course on the County Clare coast that Trump has owned since taking over the former Doonbeg resort. Amgen, the US biotechnology company, is the tournament's title sponsor.
Lowry, who broke the course record on Friday, carried that form into the third round and looked set to be matched by Olesen, who was also on course for a 65. But after Lowry holed out for par on the 18th, Olesen missed his own putt and carded a bogey at the last, handing Lowry his four-shot cushion heading into Sunday's final round.
Lowry sits at 16 under par for the tournament, with Olesen his closest challenger four shots back. Joaquin Niemann, the Chilean who led the field after the opening round on Thursday, is at nine under.
Lowry on the crowds and the wind
"Anytime you play a links golf in 15-20mph winds and it got a little cold at the end there, it's going to be hard and you're going to have some testers for pars," Lowry said. "I felt like I did a great job today of just staying in the moment and playing my own game. Yeah, I had, you know, so much fun out there on the back nine."
"The crowds were incredible," he added. "They cheered me on the whole way home and hopefully will do the same tomorrow."
Lowry, from County Offaly, won the Open Championship in 2019 and is chasing a victory in his home national open this week.
Trump's arrival halts play
Play was delayed just before 3pm as Trump's helicopter landed at the course, timed so he could watch Rory McIlroy finish his round on the 18th green.
McIlroy, the defending champion after winning the 2025 Amgen Irish Open, had a round to forget, carding a 76 that left him well out of contention heading into Sunday.
"I guess not the experience we're used to in a way," McIlroy said. "I think it's Air Force One's maiden voyage, I think, so that was pretty cool. Cool to sort of see all that going on. I was trying to avoid making doubles at that point so I was trying to concentrate on my own stuff as well."
Protests across Ireland
Trump's visit to the course came despite thousands protesting his two-day trip to Ireland, with organisers claiming a turnout in the tens of thousands in Dublin. Sinn Féin and the Greens were among the political parties taking part in the demonstration, which disrupted traffic and public transport in the city centre and prompted the Irish police force to mount a major security operation.
Smaller demonstrations were also held at Shannon Airport, where the US military's use of the airport for transit and refuelling has long been a source of grievance, and in the village of Doonbeg itself, close to the course.
Trump had completed a series of engagements in Dublin and left the city before the main march got under way.
What happens next
Lowry will take his four-shot lead into the final round on Sunday, chasing victory in front of the galleries that have followed him all week. The final round is scheduled to be shown live on Sky Sports+ from 2pm and on Sky Sports Golf from 5pm.
