SHANE LOWRY lit up the Players Championship when he aced the terrifying 17th at TPC Sawgrass to move into contention for his first win since The Open.

The affable Offaly man (34) rifled a pitching wedge over the pin at the 123-yard par-three that terrorised the field in high winds on Saturday.

It pitched in the backstop behind the flag and spun back down the hill before catching the right side of the hole and dropping.

The 2019 Open champion celebrated with a flurry of air punches, chest bumped with playing partner Ian Poulter and high fived him as well as the rest of the caddies and American Hayden Buckley as his ace got him to within three shots of the lead on four-under.

He then slapped the hand of every fan lining the 17th to congratulate him on his way to the green and capped his celebration of the 10th ace on the 17th in Players Championship history and the first since 2019 by hurling his ball into the gallery.

It was Lowry’s fourth hole in one as a professional and his second in the US.

He had his first at the 13th in the second round of the DP World Tour Championship, Dubai in 2014, then made his second in another thrilling celebration at the 16th in the final round of the Masters in 2018.

He had another in 2018 at the 170-yard fifth in the second round of the Sky Sports British Masters at Walton Heath in 2018.

His ace at the 17th at Sawgrass was the 10th in the history of the Players Championship, adding him to an illustrious list that features Brad Fabel (1st round 1986), Brian Claar (3rd rd. 1991), Fred Couples (Final 1997), Joey Sindelar (1st 1999), Paul Azinger (3rd 2000), Miguel Angel Jiménez (1st 2002), Will Wilcox (2nd 2016), Sergio Garcia (1st 2017) and Ryan Moore (3rd 2019).

Given the excitement, it was no surprise to see Lowry bogey the 18th to turn in three-under.

But he bounced back by brushing in a 41 footer first birdie at the first and then shaving the hole with a 60 footer at the second, then parred the next three holes to share 11th place on five-under, just four shots behind India's Anirban Lahiri.

The Clara ace was sitting on the cut line with four holes of his second round to play and after making a six-footer for par at the 15th, he finished birdie-birdie, drilling home a 25 footer for a two at the 17th, followed by a 29 footer at the last to make it with three shots to spare on one-under after a 70.

Séamus Power's brace of 71s saw him lead the Irish challenge into the third round, tied for 22nd on two-under, five shots behind Sam Burns and Tom Hoge.

By the time was play was suspended due to darkness, Power was tied 32nd on three-under with five holes of his third round to complete.

He birdied the par-five second, double-bogeyed the fourth when he finished up in the water short but rebounded with a birdie at the fifth thanks to a 176-yard approach from fairway sand to four feet before picking up another shot at the par-five 11th.

Rory McIlroy made it on the two-over limit after Scott Piercy ran up a quadruple-bogey seven at the 17th, then bogeyed the last to give all the players on two-over a reprieve.

The world number six started on the back nine and birdied the 11th, but he bogeyed the 14th and 15th after hitting drives left into trouble and was tied 66th on three-over with 27 holes to complete.

McIlroy ranks 69th of 71 for greens hit in regulation and 69 of 71 for strokes gained putting.