Shane Lowry got to within two of the early lead when he rolled in his fourth birdie in his first eight holes of the RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto, but he had to wait until 18 to find birdie number five and move to within one of the leading sextet.
The Offaly man was playing in the late wave alongside fellow European Ryder Cup star Robert MacIntyre and with future hopeful Alex Fitzpatrick, and delivered an early masterclass in execution as he two-putted for birdie on the par-5 opener, stiffed a 9-iron from the fairway bunker on two, then almost holed his tee shot on the par-3 fourth and tapped in to go three-under through four.
Three more decent birdie chances came and went before he claimed his fourth of the day with a huge drive and a flip wedge into eight, but then he reeled off nine pars in a row as his precision on approach waned a little.
He finished the round as he’d started, however, finding the dancefloor on the par-5 closing hole in two and tapping in for birdie to climb into a share of seventh at a golf course he’s played well at before.
It wasn’t the round that either Seamus Power or Padraig Harrington were hoping for, however. Power twice had to take a penalty drop on the way to a triple bogey on the 10th – his first – but managed to claw his way back to one-over and a share of 120th by the end of the round, while Harrington suffered a similar fate and tripled the seventh, also making doubles on 13 and 17 along with a bogey and five birdies for a three-over 73 that leaves him tied for 136th.
Sahith Theegala was the first man to reach the clubhouse at six-under, and he was later joined by Emiliano Grillo, Eric Cole, Brooks Koepka, Sam Burns and home favourite Matthew Anderson, with Lowry part of a 12-strong contingent a shot back.
Koepka, who has suffered on the greens since making his return to the PGA Tour, finally found form with the flatstick and ranked fifth in Strokes Gained: Putting on the day and this bodes extremely well ahead of his return to Shinnecock Hills where he won his second consecutive U.S. Open back in 2018.
The former world number one birdied four of his final holes to make a late surge to join the group at the top, and he admitted that it had been a little frustrating to be hitting the ball as well as he had been of late and not seeing the rewards on the greens.
“I played pretty solid,” said the five-time major winner. “I don’t think the ball striking was as good as it’s been as of late, but I mean, it’s tough to compare. It’s been unbelievable the last six months, but it was nice to see the putter finally heat up.
“It was just a culmination of kind of freeing the mind. If you just change one thing, move the ball position back a little bit with the putter and kind of help be free up the mechanical side of it and not really think of anything other than just have it slightly a bit back of where it’s been.”
Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who finished the day at -3, recorded his first career ace on the PGA Tour, holing out with a long iron from 214 yards on the seventh.
Leave a comment