Shane Lowry finds himself tied for seventh after the opening day of the Truist Championship at Philadelphia Cricket Club after carding a bogey-free 64 that leaves him three behind solo leader Keith Mitchell.
Starting on the 10th, the Offaly man didn’t take long to open his birdie account as rolled in an eight-footer on the opening hole and he followed it with back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15 to make the turn at three-under.
Scoring was low all over the course, so he knew he’d need to keep the foot down on the front side.
After wedging to three feet, he cleaned up for his fourth birdie of the day on one, and then moved to -5 after another excellent approach to the par-3 third. Birdie chances came and went on four, five, six and seven, but he made amends on the last as his 11-footer found the bottom of the cup and he signed for a 64 that was only bettered by Mitchell’s 61, the 62 of Denny McCarthy, and the 63s of Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Sepp Straka, and Akshay Bhatia.
“It’s a great golf course,” Mitchell said. “Love playing it. Definitely old school. We don’t play a ton of these. It’s nice to have that as a little refresher out here.”
“Three more rounds like today will probably do it, and trying not to win on Friday and Saturday and Sunday, just trying to play my best,” he added.
“You know, it’s harder — I’ve made it pretty hard lately. Hopefully I can just stay in front of it.”
Rory McIlroy, making his first individual start since completing the Career Grand Slam at Augusta National, opened with a 66 but admitted to being a little rusty after taking a week off and keeping practice to a minimum.
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