“Birdieless in Madrid” was how Shane Lowry jokingly described his first round at the acciona Open de España at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid, but only England’s Joe Dean took fewer strokes than the Offaly man on day two as he went nine shots better by following his opening four-over 75 with a second-round 66.
“Yesterday, it was tough,” he said after round two. “You know, I felt like I played OK, but I just couldn’t make a birdie.
“It was hard to hit greens out there, and I just kind of went through the motions, you know? I’ve been I’ve been on the road a lot lately, and I think it was getting to me yesterday a little bit.
“And, you know, I relaxed a little bit today and kind of went out there and played freely, and thankfully, it was a good day and made the weekend.
“You know, I don’t ever like missing cuts. So, you know, I went out there and tried my hardest, and thankfully, it was a good day.”
Lowry is playing in his eighth tournament in a 10-week stretch, and admitted to feeling a little burned out at last week’s BMW PGA Championship, but it wasn’t an evening of rest and relaxation that he credits for his turnaround in fortunes from day one to day two.
“If I’m being honest, I had dinner with Tyrrell Hatton last night and we probably had a couple too many glasses of wine,” he joked, “so maybe that made me play a bit freer today, and I kind of went out and just played carefree.
“This is a funny old game.”
Lowry’s 66 came courtesy of five birdies over a seven-hole stretch starting on the fourth and he kept his card clean which was no easy feat on a day where the wind swirled and well less than half of the field shot rounds in red figures.
It also sees him move just outside the top-20 on the leaderboard and with the wind expected to remain a challenge over the weekend, one of the game’s best artists could be primed for a victory challenge should Spaniard Angel Hidalgo not continue to distance himself from the chasing pack.
“It was still pretty windy today, and it was still difficult, you know? Yeah, it’s a good test of golf – it’s old-school golf.
“You need to shape your ball and you need to hit the ball in play and [there are] small greens, and it’s kind of refreshing to play that as well.”
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