
Shane Lowry hangs tough to set up another Open challenge at Royal Portrush
A one-under par 70, carded through the worst of the conditions, amounted to a serious effort from the Offaly man. It left him just inside the top 20 and three behind the leaders coming off the 18th hole after a round that threw up three birdies and two bogeys.
'Yeah, it was hard. I watched a bit of golf early this morning and I could see how even firm the golf course had gotten in the last day. Yeah, I've played a lot of golf around the country the last few weeks and the weather's been perfect, then you go today.
'I think I adapted pretty well. I think I played very well today. I was really happy with my day. Probably one or two shots, but any time you shoot one-under par around Portrush in those conditions, I think is decent.'
Lowry was happy with his game. This was a round of golf that he had run through his head for weeks. He knew it wouldn't be easy and he knew that first tee shot – with out-of-bounds on both sides and so many eyes on him as a returning champion – wouldn't be easy.
'I would put that up there with first tee at the Ryder Cup. I was fighting with that all morning this morning. It's going to be all right for the rest of the week. I just wanted to get my tournament under way.
'I obviously want so much to do well in this tournament. I want so much to give myself a chance on Sunday. You can't do that without hitting a good first tee shot. I knew I needed to do that. We all know the dangers that first hole can throw at you, so I was happy to get under way.'
If the opener brought pressure then so did the close. The cheer for Lowry as he walked down 18 in a competitive round for the first time since winning the Open six years ago was huge, but it added to the pressure as stood over a tricky par putt.
'Yeah, I wasn't expecting 18 to be full with Rory out on the course. The grandstand was full. Nice reception walking down 18. It was pretty cool. Actually, like you said, there's an extra little bit of pressure on that five-footer.
'It would have been disappointing to miss that. Yeah, look, like I said, the crowd have been amazing all week. I won the last time here, and I'm trying to use it to my advantage.' Leading the way in the clubhouse as late afternoon crept up was Denmark's Jacob Skov Olesen, Haotong Li of China and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick on four-under par after their respective rounds of 67.
All told, there were only 33 of 153 players – with three still to tee off – under par approaching 4.30pm on the back of a day that started blustery, called and then delivered a good spell of rain to really challenge the world's best.
Ominously, world number one Scottie Scheffler ended just one off the pace after a three-under 68 that ended with real momentum after a birdie at the dangerous par-3 17th hole named 'Calamity' and another at the following par-four 17th.
Rory McIlroy teed off surrounded by an enormous crowd at 3.10pm, found the rough on the left – but stayed in-bounds – and missed a short putt for par before claiming that shot back immediately a hole later. He is level par through four.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Irish Sun
2 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Oleksandr Usyk is one of boxing's greats – but he'll never be able to enjoy success due to horrors of Ukraine war
OLEKSANDR USYK'S fame and fortune is a 'curse' while his friends and countrymen are lying dead in trenches and bomb sites. 5 Derek Chisora has claimed Oleksandr Usyk can't enjoy his success and money Credit: The Sun 5 Usyk became undisputed heavyweight champion again last weekend Credit: PA 5 Usyk beat Daniel Dubois with a fifth round knockout Credit: EPA The heavyweight heroes meet at a Ukrainian sauna when the Brit-basher visits London, and they speak regularly on the phone, when the 41-year-Londoner can hear missiles and rockets raging over his roof. Del Boy was ringside to watch Usyk's latest four-belt crowning over But he told our Split Decision YouTube show that all the belts and cash in the world are wasted on the devout 38-year-old, while Vladimir Putin lays siege to his home and slaughters his nation. Chisora explained: 'He has made so much money but he can't enjoy it because his country is at war. READ MORE IN BOXING 'He can't go around driving a Lamborghini while his friends are having their houses destroyed and they are dying. He is cursed. 'He can't go on holiday in St Tropez and sunbathe and drink tequila because his friends are in the trenches. 'He can't enjoy his money. He can't because he is all Ukraine has right now." Since the 2022 invasion, Usyk has scythed through British boxing's best big men. Most read in Boxing 5 Usyk is a proud Ukrainian Credit: Getty CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS After Chisora was outpointed, the gap-toothed southpaw did almost faultless doubles over Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and now 27-year-old Dubois. And the Englishman reckons the sickening onslaught his people are facing is inspiring him in a way that transcends sport. Oleksandr Usyk has press conference in stitches as he NAMES the left hook that floored Daniel Dubois at Wembley He said: 'The population is going down because so many people, young men, are dying. 'It's so difficult for him but it's also why he is so dedicated, he is doing it for his whole nation. 'If it's your destiny then it's your destiny. If God says it's your path then nothing will take you away from it.' Arguments about cross-generation fantasy fights will rage on in pubs and online forums. But Chisora tries to keep it short and sweet. He added: 'Usyk is 100 per cent a top-10 heavyweight and he is in my top-five. 'European amateur champion, Olympic gold medalist, undisputed cruiserweight world champion and two-time undisputed heavyweight champion. 'What more else can he do? He has whooped us all. He has taken the p***!' 5

The Journal
4 hours ago
- The Journal
Rory McIlroy's Portrush gesture completes one man's 19-year journey to replace what was lost
The 42 IT'S MONDAY AFTERNOON in the media centre at Royal Portrush, and for once the question to Rory McIlroy is a little more interesting than the answer. Q: Rory, in 2006 at the Dubai Desert Classic you were a 16-year-old amateur playing with Peter O'Malley and Robert Coles. I was also a 16 year old, and I was also your scorer that day. A: No way! Q: You told me that day that your two goals were to be the World No. 1 golfer and to complete the Grand Slam. When you're an elite golfer as you are, one of the best of the generation and achieve your lifelong dream like that, what is the process of resetting your goals look like? The man asking that question was David Bieleski. He was at the Open for the week as an accredited member of the media, working for the New Zealand-based radio station, Sport Nation. David was born in New Zealand but went to school in Dubai, and it was from this school that volunteers were drawn for the annual Dubai Desert Classic event on the European Tour. As one of the few in his school who actually played golf, the tournament's head scorer usually rewarded him with the marquee group of the event. Rory McIlroy, pictured in 2006. Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO When he was handed his group in 2006, however, David recognised only two of the three listed names. While he knew tour regulars O'Malley and Coles, he knew nothing of the young amateur. He sought out the head scorer and asked him what was the deal, and was told that he was given the best group on the course, because that young amateur would be the best player in the world some day. As idle conversation unspooled with the round, David asked the young amateur for his ambitions in golf, to which the young amateur replied, slightly abashed, that he wanted to win all four major championships and become world number one. After he completed his round, the young amateur signed his golf ball and handed it to his scorer, a custom he maintains to this day. David pocketed the ball with the sense that this was one worth keeping, and so he and Rory McIlroy went their separate ways. Eight years later, Rory McIlroy was 24 and halfway to fulfilling the ambitions he confessed to his scorer at the Dubai Desert Classic. He had been world number one and had won two major titles, and he'd add another two – one of them a Claret Jug – before that year was out. School days: David Bielski with Lee Westwood during his time as a volunteer at the Dubai Desert Classic. David Bielski David Bielski David Bieleski was 24 too, but dealing with a much nastier lie. He was an alcoholic, and he was homeless too. He returned to Auckland after school, where he lapsed gradually, and then suddenly, into drinking. His alcoholism, he says, did not fit the wrongheaded cliché of a man in a trench coat drinking on a park bench from a paper bag: his was hiding insidiously in plain sight. He didn't drink in the mornings and he didn't drink in public parks. He drank socially, but when he drank, he did so to get drunk. It ticked upwards: he went out three, then four, then five nights a week, tactically going out with different friends or groups of people who would not so easily spot the frequency. He shunned the problems this all threw up, simply drinking more to escape and numb the feeling. The nights of excess gave way to mornings of shame, from which the only escape route was another night of excess. David would wake up, vomit over the toilet, potentially vomit again in the shower, and then muddle through the day before going out again that night to start the cycle all over again. 'It was a constant battle of chasing the feeling and ideal state of being through the use of alcohol,' he says, 'and then being wracked with guilt and shame for having let people down, and then doing it all again as a result.' He struggled to hold down a job, constantly ran short of money, and saw friendships and relationships fray at their seams. Then, in 2014, another night's drinking ended up with David getting into a fight, causing damage to property, and being sent to hospital and a jail cell. This was not the first time his night ended this way, but for the first time, he broke the cycle in the morning. After he was released, David stood in front of the bathroom mirror to wash his face and, for the very first time, he could not look himself in the eye. 'It was a rare moment of clarity,' he says, 'where I realised that I could either keep what I was doing and experiencing similar results, or I could be brave and try something different.' This was one week before the birth of his daughter, and so he resolved that she would never see her father drunk. David went to rehab but ran out of money, and so spent eight months living in a homeless shelter as he bid to get sober. And he did it. Within nine months he got a job as a travel agent, and was soon on a flight from New Zealand to Las Vegas for an awards ceremony as one of the company's top performers. He met a girl, Sophie, and they stayed together when she was posted from Wellington to Christchurch for work. With the added free time, David indulged his old passion for golf. He started blogging, his first post being a 2,000-word preview of, you guessed it, the Dubai Desert Classic. It gained traction, and he continued to blog until he was paid to write about golf, from where he moved into broadcasting with Sport Nation. And so David Bieleski has been sober for more than 11 years. 'The peculiarity with alcoholism is that many people can handle alcohol perfectly well and have the ability to say no or they've had enough,' he says. 'You'd never turn around to a diabetic and wonder if they can have a little bit more sugar. Society struggles to understand that we can't approach alcohol the same way. Advertisement 'If I'm drinking, I'm drinking for the effect and to get drunk. Otherwise, what else is the point? If one drink is good, then six, eight, 12 will be even better. It is a disease, and research estimates around 10% of the population have the genetic predisposition towards alcoholic drinking. I personally believe I always had a predisposition for addiction.' Which brings us to Royal Portrush. At one point along his hard road, David lost the golf ball gifted to him by Rory McIlroy, and once he got sober, his mind became fixated on where it had got to. 'It's something I thought about an unreasonable amount,' he says, 'What has happened to this golf ball? 'That memento reminded me of the happiest times of my life: my childhood.' The lost ball was an emblem of all that which David squandered in his drinking days, and so recovering it might provide a measure of apology to his younger self, and of redemption for the life he hadn't led. He scoured his history to find it. He went back to the places he had lived and stayed during his drinking days, pleading with whomever he found to look for the ball. He returned to the house in which he most suspected he had last seen it, and found his former housemate had died. He was an alcoholic too. It was all to no avail. Nobody knew where it was, and nobody could find it. The ball was lost and that fact seemed to prove that while we can all move on, we cannot always make amends. Earlier this year, Rory McIlroy fulfilled the last promise he made to David Bieleski by winning the final major tournament missing from his collection. McIlroy completed his journey's arc so David figured he might too. He flew to Cornwall, where he proposed to Sophie. Meanwhile, he asked two of his golfing school friends from the Dubai days to travel to Portrush: he told them he was proposing to Sophie beforehand, and he wanted a stag party. And, hey, some live golf is as good an idea as any other for an alcoholic's stag. But while his friends were among the galleries, David had access to the media centre, where his path finally again intertwined with Rory McIlroy. On Sunday evening, McIlroy gave the raucous crowds wreathing the 18th green one final wave and disappeared beneath the grandstands, on his way to the scoring tent and then an interview room with journalists. As McIlroy spoke with us, David peeled away from the pack and spotted Rory's caddie, Harry Diamond, standing outside. He sidled over and plucked up the courage to tell him his story. When McIlroy finished up his media duties, he bounced down the four steps leading to the elevated interview platform and swung right to rejoin Harry and walk back to the clubhouse on their way out of Portrush. As he did so, the PA address system heralding Scottie Scheffler's victory drifted overhead. Harry stood with David and introduced him to Rory. David explained his journey, telling Rory of how he had inspired him to complete his own journey. Harry produced a golf ball and sharpie, and handed both to Rory. Rory signed the golf ball, squeezed David's arm, and then handed it over saying, 'Well then, this one is even better.' David walked away, his knuckles clutched so tight they were as white as the golf ball within them, all the while failing to fight back great, heaving tears. He found a quiet spot and slipped the ball into a Titleist box, to officially begin its transit back to New Zealand, where it will take up residence in his home with Sophie, his daughter and his two cats, whose names are Gary and, of course, Rory. The ball will be set upon a tee, framed and put upon his mantlepiece, where it will stand alongside a picture of McIlroy on his knees on the 18th green at Augusta National that bears the man's own message. Never give up on your dreams. David Bieleski completes his journey with a signed ball from Rory McIlroy. David stayed to listen to Scottie Scheffler's press conference, and quietly agreed with Scheffler's outlook that life is ultimately about identifying the truly important things. I went to listen to Scheffler too, and met David as we were filing our way out of the room. I had seen his interaction with McIlroy and my curiosity had gotten the better of me, and so we sat down to talk. About an hour later, I packed up my bags and as I climbed the hill that led down from the media centre to the back of the 18th green, beneath the honeyed sunset in front of me I saw David Bieleski, arm-in-arm with his two friends, telling them he had a golf ball signed by Rory McIlroy and that, today, he had righted a wrong. You can follow David's work at DeepDiveGolf If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this piece, you can visit Written by Gavin Cooney and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won't find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women's sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here .


The Irish Sun
6 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
‘It's one of the best golf courses in the world' – Shane Lowry wants Portmarnock Links Open Championship at Dublin venue
SHANE LOWRY has become the latest big name PGA Tour star to call for an Open Championship at Portmarnock Golf Club. Advertisement 2 Ireland's Shane Lowry wants an Open Championship at Portmarnock in Dublin 2 The stunning Dublin venue hosted the 2019 R&A amateur championship The prestigious major championship has never been held outside the UK but the amateur edition was held at the Dublin links course in 2019. The Irish The Open has only been staged outside England and Scotland on three occasions at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. Advertisement READ MORE ON GOLF But the prospect of an Open in the Republic of Ireland has many licking their chops. Now, 2019 Open champion Lowry has joined American stars Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas in calling for an Open at the stunning venue. The Ryder Cup star said: "As regards Portmarnock - I've heard they're talking about it - I've heard it might go there. It would be amazing. "It's 30 minutes from my house, I would be able to stay at home and play in an Open - and I think it's one of the best golf courses in the world. Advertisement Most read in Golf "I think it's good enough to host and Open, and hopefully it will soon." Just last year, three-time major winner Scottie Scheffler wins The Open and kisses wife Meredith in emotional celebrations Speaking on the He reckons it would be incredible with an Irish crowd. Advertisement Speaking on the Smylie Show, he said: "Portmarnock is like a proper standard links, you don't have anything odd or wild that sticks out in a way. "It was the closest to Dublin, so I think that would be incredible if the infrastructure was there, which - I guess they're figuring it out it can be - I mean what a scene that could be. "You know, I think about that Adare Manor Pro-Am, and who showed up - the crowds that showed up there - you know, it was "The Portrush Open [2019 Open Championship] was amazing but if you throw one there [Portmarnock] when you're within a half-hour of Dublin - what a scene that would be. Advertisement "Not to mention, you could have carnage off that first tee."