‘I've fought with this round of golf in my head for a few weeks now'- Shane Lowry happy with one-under on Portrush return

Irish Independent

4 days ago

Shane Lowry was thrilled to overcome his first tee nerves and a mid-round rain squall to open with a solid one-under 70 at Royal Portrush.
The Offaly man confessed he was a quiet breakfast companion for his team as he mulled his return to the scene of his incredible win in 2019.
But he was beaming afterwards as he played beautifully for most of the day and rolled in a 23-footer at the 17th to dip under par and keep tabs on world number one Scottie Scheffler, who cruised around in 68 to lie just a shot behind co-leaders Jacob Skov Olesen, Haotong Li and Matt Fitzpatrick.
'It was hard,' Lowry admitted. "I watched a bit of golf early this morning, I could see how even firm the golf course had gotten in the last day.
'I've played a lot of golf around the country in the last few weeks, and the weather's been perfect. And then you go out today (in tough conditions) and I think I adapted pretty well.
'I think I played really well today. I was very happy with my day, (bar) probably one or two shots.
"I think any time you shoot one under par around Portrush in those conditions, I think it's decent.
'Obviously days like today, you can really play your way out of a tournament. So it was nice to play my way in today.'
Lowry played beautifully early on, lipping out from nine feet for birdie at the first after opting to blast driver into the 20mph south east wind blowing into him from two o'clock.
'I've fought with this round of golf in my head for a few weeks now, and I knew it wasn't going to be easy,' he said. 'You know, the first tee shot was wasn't that easy. I wasn't feeling very comfortable there, and I felt like I handled myself very well.'
He two putted for birdie at the second and parred the next three holes before eventually finding his range with the putter at the 191 yard sixth.
A 17-footer fell for him there and after failing to chip and putt for birdie at the seventh, he was unlucky to roll off the ninth and and drop a shot as rain lashed the course.
While he bogeyed the 13th after flying the green to find himself back where he started the day, he felt the 23-footer he holed for par at the 11th was 'huge' for momentum.
'We all really struggled, and I fortunately made a great putt for par.,' Lowry said. "I think there's going to be certain times in the tournament where that's going to happen, and you just need to kind of put your head down and battle through it and see where it leaves you.'
Scheffler was his usual methodical self despite the mid-round blast of rain.
There were bogeys at the ninth and 11th, where he found rough from the tee. But there were also five birdies.
He made an 18-footer at the short third, got up and down from hole high at the long seventh, hit his approach to three feet at the 10th and rifled a ling iron to three and a half feet at the fearsome 16th, Calamity, to ease his way into the top 10.
The American then hit his approach to three feet at the downhill 17th where Lowry responded by rolling in a 23-footer to get back into the red and keep the world number one in his crosshairs.
Lowry was happy too for Padraig Harrington, who birdied the first after hitting the opening tee shot and the Clara man admitted he was anxious himself before the start.
"I got up half an hour early to see Paddy hit the first tee shot,' Lowry revealed.
"I was very happy for him that it went straight. I'm sure he was fighting with that for a few days as well.
'I had a coffee and watched that, and then, once you drive the course, honestly, routine just kicks in.
'But I'd say the boys will tell you, I was probably a little bit quiet this morning and not really myself.
'I wasn't really myself. I'm happy that round of golf is over with, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the week.'