New sticks, no problem for Shane Lowry.

Lowry surged into the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Saturday with his second straight 6-under 66, only his third round since swapping 12 clubs and his golf ball.

“What’s happening in front of me, I haven’t really thought about it,” said Lowry, who at 15 is just three shots behind leader Paul Waring. “I’m just trying to get used to it, and it’s going really well so far. Let’s hope it continues like this.

Lowry’s new Cleveland/Srixon equipment are all prototypes:

• ZX Proto Driver (9.5 degrees)
• ZX Proto Training Iron (3)
• ZX Proto Irons (4-PW)
• Cleveland Proto Shims (50, 54 and 58 degrees)
• Z-Star XV Proto Ball

Lowry’s bag contains his TaylorMade M5 fairway wood (18.25 degrees) and his TaylorMade Spider Tour Z putter.

“My game, I drove the ball really well, my iron play was great,” Lowry said. “You know, I probably haven’t made as many putts as I would like. I feel like I’m hitting my putts well, making good putts and not missing the short ones. And I feel like yes, some putts fall, I can be dangerous.

Lowry opened with a score of 6-under 30 on the front nine at Yas Links on Saturday, a streak highlighted by his 36-foot eagle mark on the par-5 second hole. He made bogey at the par-3 17th, his only blemish , but confirmed that with a final birdie at the par-5 18th.

Waring, who recorded the lowest 36-hole score relative to par in DP World Tour history, returned to the field with a 73 in the third round and trailed Niklas Norgaard by just one shot. Tommy Fleetwood, Thorbjorn Olesen and Sebastian Soderberg are tied with Lowry for third.

Rory McIlroy is T-13 at 13 under after a third-round 69, which was capped by a double bogey at No. 18. McIlroy is 3 on #17-18 this week.

“Untimely mistake,” McIlroy said, “just like yesterday on the 17th and I dug myself a little hole to get out of it.” …I just need to put it all together and play like I did and avoid big mistakes and big numbers on my card, and if I can do that and post a score, you never know .