Shane Lowry fired a scintillating third round 63 to move into the lead at the Cognizant Classic on Saturday.

Lowry was in imperious form at PGA National on day three of the Cognizant Classic, as his putter finally woke up and he rolled in his fair share of putts.

The Irishman ranked second in strokes gained putting on Saturday after he gained 2.815 strokes on the field.

Lowry was slightly critical of the golf course at the Cognizant Classic before the tournament began, suggesting that the setup could have been more challenging.

However, he won’t be unhappy about the course setup now.

Lowry took full advantage of benign conditions on Saturday to vault into the lead at the Cognizant Classic.

Shane Lowry delivers verdict on third round 63 at the Cognizant Classic

Lowry spoke to reporters after shooting a superb round of eight-under-par on day three in Palm Beach, Florida.

The popular Irishman responded when asked to sum up the state of his game right now.

“Everything went pretty well, especially early on,“ Lowry said.

“I hit the ball in the fairway a lot yesterday, and I missed a few fairways early today, but I holed a few nice putts at the start.

“Then I started hitting the ball really well and giving myself lots of chances and converted a few and I felt like it was just a really nice solid round of golf. Birdieing the last two was kind of the icing on the cake.

“Yeah, my goal going out today was to get myself in the last two groups going out tomorrow. You want to be near the leaders, keep an eye on them and see what they’re doing.

“If the conditions are like this tomorrow, there are low scores out there, so someone could come from the pack. It’s not necessarily easy to lead around this golf course. There’s a lot of very difficult shots.

“But yeah, I’m up there where I want to be. I’ve had a few chances to win this tournament, and hopefully I can convert it tomorrow.“

Now Lowry will have to follow up his 63 with another round in the 60s on Sunday, if he is to have any chance of winning at PGA National.

The shape his game is in right now means that he should have every chance of doing just that.

Shane Lowry’s third round stats at the Cognizant Classic

Lowry looked in confident mood as he strolled around the fairways at PGA National on Saturday afternoon.

Here are his numbers from day three of the Cognizant Classic in the five key statistical categories:

As you can see from those numbers, the 38-year-old’s all-round game is in very good working order.

However, it was Lowry’s putting that separated him from almost every other player in the field on day three of the Cognizant Classic.

If he puts in a similar performance on Sunday, he will almost certainly secure the fourth PGA Tour win of his career.