Shane Lowry birdied three of his last six holes to muscle his way to within three shots of the early Amgen Irish Open lead as Alex Maguire’s impressive display was halted at the final hurdle by yet another torrential downpour.
Standing in position A on the ninth fairway (Maguire’s 18th), already in a race to beat the darkness, the heavens which had already forced a weather suspension earlier in the afternoon, opened once again. With visibility now at a minimum, Maguire and co decided to come back on Friday morning to complete their final hole.
Maguire was two-under for his round despite a double bogey on the notoriously difficult 7th so he was keen to avoid any more mistakes.
“This is the right decision, you see the rain now since I marked my ball on the fairway it would have been mad to hit an iron shot. Come back tomorrow and finish it off and then go again, I’m happy,” said Maguire who let me share in some brief shelter under his umbrella.
Lowry and Rory McIlroy got the best of the weather on Thursday morning as did the sizeable crowds that filtered through the gates and while McIlroy stumbled with two late bogeys, Lowry put on a spurt to the clubhouse with birdies on 4, 6 and 9 to card a three-under 69 to trail Nacho Elvira, Thorbjorn Olesen and Romain Langasque.
After a slow start where he carded a bogey and a birdie on the outward half, Lowry was pleased with his composure to turn an average day into a good one as he bids for his first Irish Open win as a professional.
“I knew the par putt on 8 was important because 9 can be tricky if you don’t get your tee shot away so I was happy with how I finished. Said to Darren if we can hole this putt it will have been a very nice day,” said the 2009 winner as an amateur.
“I had a few chances early on then three-putted 15 which was disappointing. I felt like I was playing nicely I just had to stay patient and gave myself a few chances coming in was nice. It’s very important to get off to a good start. I could see early on I was one-over and guys were getting off to four or five under through nine holes I am happy how I handled it and didn’t put pressure on to get a good score I just went about my business.”
Lowry shares twelfth place with Maguire in 25th while McIlroy and Tom McKibbin are next best of the Irish on one-under-par.
McKibbin dropped a late shot on the 17th but after a poor driving display he was pleased to get into the house in red figures, something he feels he wouldn’t have been capable of when the Irish Open was last at the K Club in 2023.
“To shoot under par while being all over the golf course was nice. Made life stressful on a few holes so overall, under par is pretty solid. I hit a few errant tee shots.
“I’m a much better player, I wouldn’t have been able to shoot under par the way I played today two years ago. That’s the main difference that when I don’t play as well I can still get it around under par compared to before.”
West Waterford’s Seamus Power was in flying form at three-under through ten holes but bogeys on 11 and 13 and a double bogey on 17 when he found the water with his approach left him over-par before he bounced back with a closing birdie for a 72 to lie alongside debutant Robert Moran.
“If you miss a fairways it’s going to be tough. I just made a couple of poor swings coming in but the holes are tough. Dropped more than I wanted but was pleased to get one back on the last.”
Meanwhile, Pádraig Harrington, Mark Power and Fota Island amateur John Doyle have work to do from two-over as Conor Purcell and Max Kennedy face mountainous tasks to make the cut from four-over and six-over respectively.
Scoring HERE
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