Shane Lowry is becoming something of a star in the US where Rory McIlroy's three iron and his golf game made a reappearance in round three of the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral.

Lowry gave notice that he's a superstar in waiting as he shot a two under 70 that felt somewhat disappointing after he had raced to five par through eight holes.

He played his last 10 holes in three over but still finished the day with his sights on a top 10 finish as he shared 12th with McIlroy (72) on one-under par.

Leader JB Holmes had a hole in one at the par-three fourth just minutes after Dustin Johnson had aced it, it became clear that the big hitters are destined to dominate this event.

After carding a 62 that Lowry said "just pipped" the 62 Robert Karlsson shot at Wentworth a few years ago, Holmes bogeyed the 18th but still shot a two under 70 to lead by five strokes from Johnson (69) and Bubba Watson (70) on 11 under par. 

Apart from Ryan Moore, solo fourth on five under after a 74, the leaderboard is festooned with big hitters with Holmes, Johnson and Watson as well as Bill Haas, Louis Oosthuizen and Henrik Stenson tied fourth on four under.

McIlroy played with 13 clubs having jettisoned his three-iron in the lake at the eighth on Friday. He bogeyed the hole again in round three as he made four birdies and four bogeys in a level par 72.

"Yeah, honestly, I felt like I hit it a little better today," McIlroy said. "Controlled my ball flight a little better.  Hit some shots that were quite pleasing. But still, it's a tricky day out there with the wind and the wind being in a different direction than it has been the last couple of days.

"It would have been nice to shoot something under par, something in the 60s. But even par out there today, as you can see, isn't that bad a score....

"My iron play just isn't really where I want it to be, so everything else feels good.  I'm driving the ball pretty well. Hitting it good off the tee. I'm  just not giving myself enough opportunities from hitting good tee shots, and I think that's the one thing I need to work on a little bit. 

The world No 1 is having trouble holding the ball up against a left to right wind and fully expects to get a handle on it over the coming weeks. According to Derek Lawrenson in the Mail, he's playing Augusta National next week with his father Gerry, football star Tom Brady and Augusta member Jeff Knox, the top amateur who beat him as a marker last year thanks to his amazing putting prowess.

"I felt coming off the two starts in the Middle East, I was playing well, but I guess the wind over the last couple weeks has just exposed a couple things that I need to work on," McIlroy said of his 72. "So in that regard, it has not been a bad thing.  But there wasn't much wind in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and I could sort of get away with it a little bit, where you really need to control your ball flight better in conditions like this.  The last couple of weeks, I just haven't really done that." 

The other news of the day, apart from the fact that McIlroy's three iron was recovered from the lake at Doral by a scuba diver, was Lowry's front men performance.

He birdied the first and then made three in a row from the fourth and narrowly missed for eagle at the eighth to move up to tied fourth on four under par.

"My iron play just isn't really where I want it to be, so everything else feels good.  I'm driving the ball pretty well. Hitting it good off the tee.  Yeah, just not giving myself enough opportunities from hitting good tee shots, and I think that's the one thing I need to work on a little bit. "

The world No 1 is having trouble holding the ball up against a left to right wind and fully expects to get a handle on it over the coming weeks. According to Derek Lawrenson in the Mail, he's playing Augusta National next week with his father Gerry, football star Tom Brady and Augusta member Jeff Knox, the top amateur who beat him as a marker last year thanks to his amazing putting prowess.

"I felt coming off the two starts in the Middle East, I was playing well, but I guess the wind over the last couple weeks has just exposed a couple things that I need to work on," McIlroy said of his 72. "So in that regard, it has not been a bad thing.  But there wasn't much wind in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and I could sort of get away with it a little bit, where you really need to control your ball flight better in conditions like this.  The last couple of weeks, I just haven't really done that." 

The other news of the day, apart from the fact that McIlroy's three iron was recovered from the lake at Doral by a scuba diver, was Lowry's front men performance.

He birdied the first and then made three in a row from the fourth and narrowly missed for eagle at the eighth to move up to tied fourth on four under par.

"I felt coming off the two starts in the Middle East, I was playing well, but I guess the wind over the last couple weeks has just exposed a couple things that I need to work on," McIlroy said of his 72. "So in that regard, it has not been a bad thing.  But there wasn't much wind in Abu Dhabi and Dubai and I could sort of get away with it a little bit, where you really need to control your ball flight better in conditions like this.  The last couple of weeks, I just haven't really done that." 

The other news of the day, apart from the fact that McIlroy's three iron was recovered from the lake at Doral by a scuba diver, was Lowry's front men performance.

He birdied the first and then made three in a row from the fourth and narrowly missed for eagle at the eighth to move up to tied fourth on four under par.

A bogey at the ninth, he was in sand with his tee shot, stopped him in his tracks and the back nine was a grind as he bogeyed the 13th and 14th for the third day running, birdied the 16th but then bogeyed the last after being forced to chip out from the trees.

"On the front nine I didn't miss a shot and I was four under and I need to do that again," said Lowry, who is targeting a big finish that could go a long way towards securing his US Tour card. 

As for Graeme McDowell, he's tied for 48th on five over after two 73s and a 75 yesterday. The Portrush man simply hasn't been at his best off the tee and as a result he's struggled to hit greens and keep bogeys at bay.