Shane Lowry donned the sky blue and white colours and like Argentina put on a big finish to keep his chances of a second Open Championship alive at Royal Birkdale.
After three bogeys in a row on the 13th, a nightmare four-putt on the par-5 14th and 15th. Lowry responded with a flourish to birdie the 16th, par-5 17th and get up and down from the left green side bunker on the 18th for a par to chisel out a one-under 69 which leaves him four shots behind Jackson Suber.
“Yeah, like results, score-wise, I’m pretty happy with that. I think the — you know, the wind switch in the afternoon made the course play a little more difficult. So it was important I didn’t get caught leaderboard watching and see what the leader guys were doing.
“I’m pretty satisfied with the finish. Obviously I think it could have been a better score, but I’m pretty satisfied with that finish. I felt like I did a great job of staying in control of myself and my game and my thoughts. Yeah, I’m pretty happy and proud of myself the way I finished there.”
Lowry looked at ease out on the links. He gained early momentum with a crucial par save on the opening hole after an errant approach shot and a 35-foot birdie putt on the third to get into red figures. A bogey came on the 6th but he moved into contention at two-under-par with birdies on the 9th and 12th. There were other birdie chances on the 8th and 10th but the Clara man was putting well and looked in control.
Even a bogey on 13 after having to lay up with his second shot was no disaster and it looked like he would reclaim that shot when he hit the par-5 14th in two. Any putt from 78 feet it three-puttable and leaving his first effort 9-feet short was a fair stab from that distance.
But Lowry’s year has been one of near misses and unexplainable brain farts and a moment to forget reared its ugly head when he took another three blows from there to card a mystifying six. He compounded that with a bogey on the new par-3 15th.
The 2019 Open champion would have been forgiven for dropping his head, but he has spoken of the importance of Dermot Byrne on the bag now as a new voice on the course. Both dovetailed nicely throughout the day and perhaps a new perspective has lifted the burden from Lowry’s shoulders.
He launched a dart to four-feet on the 16th to set up a birdie before two crackers on the par-5 17th set up an eagle chance and he left the green with the easiest of birdies to suddenly get back into red figures. Keen to not let his good work go to waste he solidly saved par on the last from the sand and that will make dinner taste that bit better.
“I think the golf is there. I just needed a way for it to come out. I feel like I did a good job of just staying in my own lane today, trying to pick the spots I want to hit it off the tee and trying to pick the spots I want to hit it into the green and work from there.
“Obviously what happened on 13, 14, 15 is — yeah, it’s like a sucker punch, but it’s not — it’s how you respond and stuff like that is what makes a tournament. I really, really feel like I played really well today, and I feel like I could have shot a great score, but I think 1-under is still pretty good.”
Missed short putts proved to be a theme of the day and Lowry was no exception. But just two groups behind him his buddy Rory McIlroy was often left dumbfounded at the amount of shorties he was missing.
Lowry admits it would have been easy to get frustrated at some poor breaks on the burnt out links but he did a god job of staying in his lane.
“I pity the guys that have never played links golf coming here. You’re hitting 4-irons off tees, and they’re going over 300 yards. Sometimes it’s hard to mentally and visually see that.
“I felt like I did a good job today of taking the bunkers out of play where I felt like I needed to, and I took the golf course on a little bit in response, so yeah.
“With the poa annua greens with the weather, they’ve obviously had to try and keep them as soft as they could with how burnt out it’s getting. There are certain greens that are worse than others, but yeah, they are bumpy there this afternoon.”
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