Lowry three shots off the lead, McIlroy five back in Philadelphia
SHANE LOWRY CARDED an opening-round 64 to sit at six under par at the Truist Championship, three shots off leader Keith Mitchell (61, -9).
Rory McIlroy is a couple of shots further back from his Irish Olympic teammate, his Thursday 66 leaving him on four under par at Philadelphia Cricket Club's Wissahickon course.
Lowry bookended a blemish-free round with birdies, opening his tournament on the par-4 10th and finishing in style on the par-4 ninth. The Offaly man also birdied twice on either side of the turn, on 15, 16, 1, and 3 respectively, to enter Friday's second round among the chasing pack.
Masters champion McIlroy started on 1, birdieing the second, fifth and sixth to sit three under entering his own back nine. He moved to four under with a birdie on 10 before battling through a more turbulent finish: he bogeyed 11, birdied 14, bogeyed 15, and birdied 17 to get out in 66, four under for his round and now five shots off American leader Mitchell.
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Mitchell's compatriot Denny McCarthy sits in standalone second after an eight-under-par 62, while all of Rickie Fowler, Collin Morikawa, Sepp Straka and Akshay Bhatia shot 63 to share third.
Lowry is in a group of four players tied on six under par, with 14 challengers behind them all on five under.
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The Irish Sun
11 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Rory McIlroy hoping for some short-term memory loss after 81 on practice round at US Open venue Oakmont
RORY MCILROY is banking on a short memory and a timely driver swap to help him survive the brutal challenge of Oakmont at this week's US Open. The Advertisement 2 Rory McIlroy admitted that he carded an 81 at the tough Oakmont track last week 2 Rory McIlroy also revealed he's found a new driver for the season's third major And he'll be hoping for a far smoother session than his practice trip last Monday. He revealed that despite a strong finish, that earlier visit saw him shoot 81. The course is widely regarded as one of the toughest in American golf, especially with punishing rough and narrow fairways. McIlroy explained: 'There's definitely been a little bit of rain since that Monday. Last Monday felt impossible. Advertisement read more on golf "I birdied the last two holes for 81. It felt pretty good. It didn't feel like I played that bad. "It's much more benign right now than it was that Monday. They had the pins in dicey locations, and greens were running at 15 1/2. It was nearly impossible. 'But yeah, this morning it felt - it was a little softer. If you put it in the fairway, it's certainly playable. You get yourself in the way of a few birdies, that's a bonus.' That was prior to a horror missed cut at the last week's Advertisement Most read in Golf But he also pointed to a silver lining after some time at home after the He said: 'I learned that I wasn't using the right driver.' US Open release incredible video of army of lawnmowers to tackle rough as stars brand conditions 'unplayable' He said: 'Every driver sort of has its own character and you're trying to manage the misses. "I feel like, as the last few weeks go, I learnt a lot on Thursday and Friday last week and did a good bit of practice at home and feel like I'm in a better place with everything going into this week.' Advertisement Asked how much it impacted his play at Quail Hollow without his trusted setup, McIlroy pointed to the eventual champion. He added: 'It wasn't a big deal for Scottie, so it shouldn't have been a big deal for me.' He also acknowledged that he's struggled to get back on track after big wins - and reckons he'll need to put that to the back of his mind if he's to compete, after a missed cut on the Oakmont course in 2016. Speaking to the media from the press room, he admitted that he's readjusting to life post-Grand Slam had taken its taken a mental toll. Advertisement The 36-year-old added: 'I think it's trying to have a little bit of amnesia and forget about what happened six weeks ago. "Then just trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I've been working.'
Irish Examiner
13 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Rory McIlroy: 'I'm in a better place with everything going into this week'
Rory McIlroy is hoping little amnesia and some urgent retooling off the tee can aid his attempts to tame the 'nearly impossible' challenge of Oakmont this week. The 2011 US Open champion was up early on Tuesday morning to play nine holes of practice alongside close friend Shane Lowry at the Pittsburgh course. It went a whole lot better than a scouting trip the previous week. McIlroy revealed that in spite of a pair of closing birdies last Monday he shot an 81 on a course which many see as the sternest test American golf can pose, particularly with its ultra-punishing rough this week. Given that he followed that ugly score with a pretty disastrous weekend at the RBC Canadian Open, his post-Masters glow fading in rapid quick time, one would be forgiven for expecting McIlroy to be battling a slew of concerns at the year's third major. His pre-tournament press conference did admittedly feature fresh moments of reflection on how adjusting to life after completing the career grand slam has been a struggle. However McIlroy said last weekend's unexpected time off had helped him figure out one big piece of the puzzle. Having quickly returned to Florida from Toronto, McIlroy was asked what he had learned at home? 'I learned that I wasn't using the right driver,' he replied to laughter. During Tuesday's practice on the back nine alongside Lowry, McIlroy was carrying a TaylorMade Qi10 driver. That was the model he swung to success at the Masters only to see his favoured one fail a compliance test prior to the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Since then things have been far from reliable as he cycled between replacements and the Qi35 model which let him down in Canada. 'Every driver sort of has its own character and you're trying to manage the misses,' McIlroy said. 'I feel like, as the last few weeks go, I learnt a lot on Thursday and Friday last week and did a good bit of practice at home and feel like I'm in a better place with everything going into this week.' Asked how big an impact it had made at Quail Hollow not to have his 'gamer' driver, McIlroy pointed to the eventual winner, replying: 'it wasn't a big deal for Scottie, so it shouldn't have been a big deal for me.' The 36-year-old argued that throughout his career he has always been slow to refocus after big victories. April's crowning moment in Georgia was the biggest yet so it perhaps makes a certain amount of sense that this has been an extended run of readjustment. Ignoring what's gone before may be the approach this week. 'I think it's trying to have a little bit of amnesia and forget about what happened six weeks ago. Then just trying to find the motivation to go back out there and work as hard as I've been working. "I worked incredibly hard on my game from October last year all the way up until April this year. It was nice to sort of see the fruits of my labor come to fruition and have everything happen,' he said. 'You have to enjoy that. You have to enjoy what you've just accomplished. At some point, you have to realize that there's a little bit more golf left to play this season, here, Portrush, Ryder Cup, so those are obviously the three big things that I'm sort of looking at for the rest of the year.' TAKING AIM: Rory McIlroy takes it down the last in his practice round ahead of the 125th US Open at Oakmont Country. Pic:McIlroy's last visit to Oakmont was the spark of a run of three-straight missed cuts at the US Open. Since then he has six top-10s in a row with back-to-back second-place finishes in the two most recent. He said the event "went from probably my least favorite major to probably my favorite because of what it asks from you, and I love that challenge.' But his scouting trip last week proved a little too challenging. The curated calf-deep rough at Oakmont swallowed up some practice balls. At least this week there are volunteers on hand to help with the search. "I'm glad we have spotters up there because I played last Monday and you hit a ball off the fairway and you were looking for a good couple of minutes just to find it. It's very penal if you miss. Sometimes it's penal if you don't miss. But the person with the most patience and the best attitude this week is the one that's going to win,' he said, grateful for the early soaking the course has got this week. 'There's definitely been a little bit of rain since that Monday. Last Monday felt impossible. I birdied the last two holes for 81. It felt pretty good. It didn't feel like I played that bad. It's much more benign right now than it was that Monday. They had the pins in dicey locations, and greens were running at 15 1/2. It was nearly impossible. 'But yeah, this morning it felt -- it was a little softer. If you put it in the fairway, it's certainly playable. You get yourself in the way of a few birdies, that's a bonus.' McIlroy revealed that he also spent parts of the weekend away from the range, hitting the court with caddie Harry Diamond. Intense tennis matches are exactly the kind of thing he would have avoided pre-Augusta. 'I'm trying to have more fun. We're trying to take more trips,' he said. "We're trying to do things that I enjoy and get back to having hobbies and filling my time with the things that I want to do. But that hasn't just been post-Augusta. I've been trying to do that for a while. 'I've started to play a lot of tennis again. Like Harry and Niall play tennis pretty much every week when we're on the road, and I've always been like, I don't want to injure myself, whatever, but I miss not playing. "So Harry and I played quite a bit of tennis last weekend, so that was good fun.'
The 42
13 hours ago
- The 42
Terence Crawford to challenge Canelo Alvarez for undisputed super-middleweight crown
UNDEFEATED AMERICAN BOXING star Terence 'Bud' Crawford will move up a further two weight divisions to challenge fellow pound-for-pound great Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez for the Mexican's undisputed super-middleweight world title on 13 September. Crawford (41-0, 31KOs), who was previously the undisputed ruler of the light-welterweight and welterweight divisions, will face the naturally larger Alvarez (63-2-2, 39KOs) in Las Vegas, live on Netflix. The bout between fellow four-weight world champions, which will be one of the most significant of the 21st century, will be available globally to Netflix's 300 million-plus subscribers at no additional cost. Titled 'The One', Canelo v Crawford will be promoted by Saudi Arabia's boxing stakeholders as well as UFC president Dana White, who recently signed a boxing partnership with the Saudis. Advertisement While the exact Vegas venue for the bout has yet to be announced, the boxers will embark on a three-city promotional tour later this month, stopping off in Riyadh (20 June), New York (22 June), and Vegas (27 June). Speaking upon confirmation of the bout, 168-pound top dog Alvarez said: 'I'm super-happy to be making history again and this time on a Riyadh Season Card that will be broadcast on Netflix. On 13 September, I'm ready to show once again that I am the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.' Challenger Crawford added: 'My perfect record speaks for itself. I am the best fighter in the world and no matter the opponent or weight class, I have always come out on top. On 13 September, my hand will be raised once again as the world watches greatness.' Crawford, 37, and Alvarez, 34, are two of the greatest boxers of their generation. Crawford, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, destroyed longtime welterweight rival Errol Spence in July 2023 to cement his status as a two-weight undisputed champion and America's flagship boxer. He has since boxed just once, last August, when he moved up to light-middleweight and narrowly outpointed the previously unbeaten Uzbek, Israil Madrimov, to earn a world title in a fourth different weight division. Alvarez, who hails from Guadalajara, is on a six-fight win streak since his 2022 defeat to Dmitry Bivol up at light-heavyweight, which appeared a physical bridge too far for the boxer who began his own professional career as a light-welterweight in 2005. Former lightweight, light-welterweight, welterweight and light-middleweight champion Crawford will make an even more dramatic leap in September, skipping the middleweight division altogether in an effort to cement himself as a true all-time great. Turki Alalshikh, Saudi Arabia's front-facing power broker, said: 'On 13 September, Canelo and Crawford, two legends of boxing, will finally compete against each other in the fight of the century. Alongside Dana White and Sela, we will deliver something truly incredible in Las Vegas for fans around the world to enjoy through Netflix.' UFC president White added: 'Turki wants to make the biggest fights that the fans want to see in boxing and this is right up my alley. Are you kidding me that the first boxing fight I'm going to get to promote is Canelo vs Crawford? It's literally a once-in-a-lifetime fight. Live on Saturday, 13 September, streaming globally on Netflix, two of the greatest boxers in the sport will meet in a historic fight from Las Vegas.'
