Shane Lowry sparks wild scenes with second Masters ace

Shane Lowry made his second Masters hole-in-one as he put himself in contention for another Major Championship triumph on day three at Augusta National.

The 2019 Open Champion had already aced the 16th on the final day a decade ago but on the sixth on Saturday he became the first player to make two holes-in-one down Magnolia Lane.

He hit a seven iron from 190 yards and the patrons already seemed excited about it in the air before watching it pitch and roll into the hole.

The celebrations outside the ropes were matched by those inside, wth Lowry giving a big fist-pumping celebration before hugging playing partner Tommy Fleetwood, who he saw make a hole-in-one in Wednesday's Par 3 contest.

Remarkably, it is his second ace in as many weeks after he made one with the same seven iron at the Texas Children's Houston Open.

"That's wild, isn't it?" he said. "I 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 a hole-in-one, it's pretty cool.

"The walk down the sixth hole with everyone around 16 and the sixth was very special. I'll remember that for a while. Yeah, it was obviously amazing.

"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 seven 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.

"So, yeah, I was happy with that."

While a hole-in-one is always special, it may simply be the two shots gained that are most important as Lowry finds himself right in the mix for the Green Jacket.

Having entered the weekend sven shots behind good friend Rory McIlroy, he goes into Sunday just two back of McIlroy and American Cameron Young.

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

"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.

"It obviously wasn't going to be an easy day for Rory to shoot a score. We all know it's all about tomorrow. You know what I mean? Obviously it matters, today, but when we get to tomorrow, that's when, you know, we'll see what everyone is made of."