Shane Lowry heaped praise on the course set up as he moved into contention at the halfway stage of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
Lowry rolled in seven birdies including four in the opening seven holes on his way to a 67 as he vaulted up the leaderboard to six-under-par and within three shots of Frenchman Antoine Rozner.
“It was a good day, pretty happy, I knew I had to go out and shoot a decent score if I wanted to get myself back into the tournament. I did that and hopefully I can keep it going over the weekend,” Lowry, who birdied the 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 7th early on, told Denis Kirwan of Meridian Media.
The scoring has yet to reach double figures under par with some of the later groups still on course at the time of writing, including Rory McIlroy, and Lowry feels the penal rough has put a cap on birdies and made hitting fairways a premium.
The Offaly man learned the hard way that you don’t have to be too wayward to get punished at Jumeirah Golf Estates this week after two missed fairways cost him two bogeys on 8 and 9.
“I know my tee shot on 9 was quite a bit in the rough but my tee shot on 8 was only six inches from the semi rough and I had to chip out sideways pretty much. The rough is very penal out there, you have to drive it on the fairway but when you do that there are a lot of chances. The greens are receptive and they are rolling very well. Hit fairways over the weekend and I will be alright.”
Lowry got back on the birdie train with gains on 10, 11 and 15 but he was unable to find extra birdies on the par fives 14 and 18, one due to a missed fairway and the other down to length.
“18 is a very tough hole for me. I was fortunate with my tee shot, but I don’t carry a 3-wood so even if I hit a good tee shot I can’t reach the green in two so it’s a three shot hole and try make birdie that way which I didn’t. 14, obviously I just missed the fairway by a yard right of where I wanted to be and I was lucky to be able to advance it 120 yards,” he explained.
The 2019 Open champion has become a tee to green specialist so this is golf “as it should be” as he licks his lips ahead of a weekend challenge.
“The course is set up brilliant, it’s the way golf should be, it should be penal for missing fairways and there should be a premium on driving the ball in the fairway and fair play to them (course set up).”
Lowry has qualified for the DP World Tour Championship every year since 2011 which is no mean feat considering US Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick and Ryder Cup star Nicolai Hojgaard are absent this week and the 37-year-old has a fine Middle East record, winning in Abu Dhabi in 2019 so he would love to add another big title to his CV this week and break a two year winless record.
“I haven’t played it every year since 2011 but I have been in the tournament every year since 2011 so that’s something to be proud of. It’s been a long, decent career so far I finished second here once before so hopefully I can go one better over the weekend.”
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