Shane Lowry spoke about acceptance in his pre-tournament interview with the Irish media and boy did he have to roll with the punches as Augusta National tooketh but also gave him plenty to smile about as he ended his opening round of the 90th Masters with a very eventful 70.
Lowry, playing in his eleventh Masters, had probably his most explosive start in his time here. He sent a driver to the top of the hill on the first before drilling an 8-iron to tap in range for an opening birdie. Two crackers set up an eagle chance on 2 and he settled for a birdie before a good chance for a birdie went begging on the short par-4 3rd but he looked in control. Until the par-3 4th.
Playing at its easiest from the forward tee, the Offaly men sent an iron towering over the flagstick onto the back fringe. From 20-feet he left his second putt three feet short and took a further three blows. From being potentially five-under after four holes, he slumped to the fifth tee at level-par. A bogey on the 6th put him over par for the day and suddenly it seemed like his chances of a second major and first green jacket were on a knife-edge.
But Lowry’s mantra of acceptance paid dividends, a clutch sand save on the tricky par-4 7th from the right trees and a birdie, birdie finish to the front nine turned things back in his favour. A 30-footer on 9 restoring some confidence in the flat stick.
Although a chance went on the 11th, Lowry would have his Amen moment. 68-yards, he admits, is an uncomfortable number for him but a beautifully picked up lob wedge took a hop, skip and went in for a highlight eagle and all of a sudden he was three-under.
The 2019 Open champion kept things together coming home and he was pleased with a bogey on 17 after hitting the grandstand with his approach from 190 and he made the most of a kind flick off a tree on 18 to save par and get in the house well placed at two-under.
“Yeah, it was pretty good,” said Lowry whose previous low opener is 68. “I’m pretty happy. Obviously I got off to a great start, and I was feeling great. Then obviously I had a mishap on the fourth, and I thought I did a great job of kicking on from there.
“I know I bogeyed six, but I made a great par save on seven and birdied eight and nine. That kind of really got me going, and I really felt like I plotted my way around the course nicely today.
“I spoke to this with Neil and Darren over the last few days. You know, you can hit good shots around here and make bogeys, and you just have to roll with it. My thing was is, like, I felt like I didn’t miss a shot in the first four holes, and obviously I had that mishap on the fourth green.
“You can get a bit disheartened or dejected by that, but I felt like I’m in a good frame of mind to kind of just move on and move on from everything. Yeah, I’ve been around here enough to know that that could happen at certain stages. Obviously it’s not ideal if it happens, but yeah.”
At the time of writing, Irish momentum has continued on from Rory McIlroy’s Grand Slam success last year. McIlroy currently co-leads after a 67 and while fans back home will get excited over both players starting well, Lowry feels his biggest obstacle to receiving a green jacket from Rory McIlroy is Rory McIlroy.
“Yeah, he will probably kick on about four in a row or something. Yeah (smiling), it’s great to see him up there. He’s a hard one to beat. I don’t know (laughing).”
As for the conditions, Thursday has produced a firm and fast Masters, something not seen for quite a while. Again, acceptance will be the key for any champion on Sunday night given the difficulty of the greens.
“I think this could be the toughest Masters we’ve played in a while. You look at the forecast. They can do whatever they want with the golf course this weekend.
“I think over the last few years we’ve had a day every year where it’s been raining or it’s been heavy rains. It’s kind of helped us a little bit, but I think before the week is out, it’s going to get very, very crusty around here.”
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