Somehow Shane Lowry beat Rory McIlroy on day one of the Masters at Augusta National and the Clara man was all smiles after a closing birdie gave him a round of 71.
Lowry had a face like thunder walking off the 17th green after the “sloppiest bogey of all time” when he pulled a wedge left and couldn’t get up and down. But he was pleased with his afternoon’s work after a five foot birdie putt on the last found the cup to leave him in red figures and in a share of eleventh place, six shots behind Justin Rose and one ahead of McIlroy.
“It’s funny, I felt on the front nine I wasn’t playing great and then I turned in 2-under and felt like I played better on the back nine and didn’t really get nothing out of it,” said Lowry who after a quiet start of a bogey on 3 and a birdie on 2 caught fire with back to back birdies on the 8th and 9th before handing shots back on 10 and 17.
“Then I was fuming walking off 17 green to be honest because I had worked so hard to stay under par and then when I hit my drive off 17, I was like, right where that pin it on 17 and where the pin is on 18 I knew there was going to be two chances on the way in if you could get your drive away.
“It was just the sloppiest bogey of all time. But to birdie the last was nice and to shoot under par was nice. I think Justin Rose went a bit crazy today, but this golf course is not giving anything. It’s firm. a bit of rain overnight, but probably won’t be much.”
The 2019 Open champion is very much among the chasing pack but admitted that he won’t get caught out trying to chase down Rose or some of the big hitters ahead like Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Åberg or Bryson DeChambeau.
“No, you can’t do anything around here. Just take one hole at a time and see what it gives you. I think patience is the key. Like you can be having an average day and you can go — you can make a few birdies in the last few holes and it feels good.
“But yeah, no, I don’t think targets are — like I feel major championships, somebody shoots a low score first round every time, no matter how hard the golf course is. The best players in the world are playing it, so if someone is going to get hot and shoot a good score — be interested to see what the scoring does from here.
“But this golf course, honestly, it’s so firm and fast — that 15th green, by Sunday I don’t know what we’re going to do to try and stop the ball on the green. It’s very, very firm.”
Leave a comment