Shane Lowry has an Open Championship win on his resume, so he knows what a rough week looks like. Even so, Saturday in Delhi was a stressful one. The Irishman began the morning thinking about his flight home from the $4 million championship but ended the day seven shots off the lead, with the final round offering a chance to make up ground.

Speaking to the press, Lowry was asked how he built his momentum. His answer revealed just how close he had come to calling it a week.

“Yeah, it was,” Lowry said. “I got off to a great start and got myself back in the tournament. Then I just went stale on the back nine. Played all right, but just couldn’t convert any chances.”

After struggling in Round 1 with a +3 score, Lowry managed to even move past a bogey early into Round 2 and finish with a -7 score.

“I felt like as the day went on, yeah, especially as it got late in the evening, the moisture from the rain just struggled with the play,” Lowry further said. “But like, I was going out this morning; honestly, I was half packing my bags to go home. I had 12 holes left. Thought I needed to shoot 4-under in the 12 holes and shot 7, so yeah, pretty happy with my whole day’s work. Had 30 holes and shot 10-under for 30 holes. You know, hopefully I can go out and shoot a low one tomorrow. I’m too far back, but hopefully I can.”

The 12 holes Lowry referred to were from Friday’s round, which stretched across two days because of bad weather. For context, storms caused a delay of almost five hours on Thursday, and darkness stopped play just before 6 p.m. on Friday, with half the field still on the course. Play resumed at 6:45 a.m. on Saturday, leaving the players with a packed schedule.

Lowry’s performance had been uneven up to that point. He opened the week with a 75 in the first round and was three over par after six holes of his second round. With the cut falling at level par, he needed a strong finish to make it through. He thought four under over his remaining 12 holes would be enough. Instead, he went seven under, signing for a 65 to make the weekend at four under.

His slow start was particularly surprising because Lowry has generally performed well at this venue. He finished tied for third last year. Asked what suited him about the layout, he pointed to the importance of positioning and mid-iron play.

“Yeah, it’s just position of golf. You just knock it around, and it suits mid-iron, and my mid-iron play was awful the first day, and even the first round and a half my iron play was very bad, bad as it’s been in a while,” Lowry said

Saturday, however, brought a welcome change. After completing his remaining holes from Friday, Lowry carried that momentum into his third round. He birdied four of his first six holes, including a 34-foot putt at the fourth and a strong approach at the sixth. A bogey at the fifth was his only dropped shot during that stretch, and he moved to seven under for the tournament.

The back nine was quieter, but Lowry still closed with a 69 to remain seven under. After spending much of the week fighting to stay in contention, he had given himself a chance to climb the leaderboard on Sunday.

The challenge, however, remains considerable. Eugenio Chacarra was 14 under with seven holes of the third round left to play, while Angel Hidalgo and Joost Luiten sit on 12 under. They are scheduled to resume at 6:35 a.m. on Sunday after the third round was suspended because of darkness. The final round is not expected to commence before 9:15 am.

That said, Lowry’s year has been challenging, but it has also brought opportunities. In January, he led the Dubai Invitational by one shot on the 72nd but eventually finished tied for third. At the Cognizant Classic, he again let a chance to win slip away. By August, Lowry was still without a victory.

Then came Doonbeg. He won the tournament by 11 shots, setting an Irish Open record. That win transformed his season.

So why does the rest of the season matter for Lowry? For one, the DP World Tour’s season is approaching its conclusion, and only the top 70 players in the Race to Dubai qualify for the playoffs. Lowry was 16th before arriving in Delhi, putting him comfortably inside the qualifying line, although a strong finish would help him consolidate his position.

Whether he can make another move on Sunday remains to be seen, but after considering an early flight home, Lowry has given himself a reason to keep pushing.