LOWRY SETS COURSE RECORD TO LEAD IN DOONBEG
Shane Lowry leads heading into the weekend at the Amgen Irish Open at Trump International, Doonbeg. (Photo: DP World Tour/Getty)
Shane Lowry set a new course-record at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg, Ireland to take a three-shot lead into the weekend of the Amgen Irish Open.
The 2019 Champion Golfer of the Year carded an eight under par round of 62 to move to the top of the leaderboard on 11 under par, three shots clear of Danish duo Niklas Nørgaard Jacob Skov Olesen and China’s Haotong Li.
Lowry’s second round would see him claim the $30,000 bonus prize, courtesy of the Course Record Presented By Nexo, should it still stand at the end of the week.
Lowry said: “It was nice. It was real fun out there. I got off to a nice start and then I just kept going. I felt great out there. Just kept my foot on the gas and tried to keep hitting good shots and keep holing putts and it was a nice day.
“I think this is going to be the nicest day of the week as well, so the crowds are out there. It looks amazing. I'm sure this place looks amazing on TV. The crowds were amazing out there today. They support me along the way, and it was nice to give them something to shout about.
“You just want to get off to a good start and give yourself a chance going into the weekend. I know the conditions are going to be tough tomorrow, so I knew I needed to go and shoot a good score today. There's a lot of great players out there, so I'm sure they will be running at it this weekend as well. But I'm up there now and I'm going to go out and give my best over the next two days.”
The 39-year-old, who famously won this event as an amateur in 2009 and has played every edition since, followed up an opening 67 on Thursday by taking advantage of the easier conditions and setting the tone for the early groups on Friday.
The six-time DP World Tour winner made three birdies in a row from the third thanks to impressive approaches at three and five and a 22‑footer at the fourth, before adding three more gains at seven, eight and nine to make the turn in 30.
A crucial par save at the 10th kept his momentum intact, and he followed it with birdies at the 11th and 12th to reach eight under for his round.
A three‑putt bogey at the 13th was his only dropped shot of the day, but he responded with a 19‑footer for birdie at the 15th.
His five-iron to the last set up a final birdie chance, but while his effort left him just shy of a first DP World Tour 61, his 62 is still the lowest score recorded at Doonbeg.
Rasmus Højgaard carded a seven under par round of 63 to move into a share of fifth on five under alongside New Zealand's Kazuma Kobori, Scotland's Ewen Ferguson, Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin (68, 67) and Chilean Joaquim Niemann.
“Very happy. Obviously, conditions not as touch as they were yesterday. Managed to take advantage of the conditions and hold on for the rest of the round,” said McKibbin.
“Also took about an hour less to play [the second round], not quite as stressful as yesterday. I felt most of the holes were gettable and you could make birdies today. Still tricky, still wind there.
“It’s exciting to be there or thereabouts heading into the weekend.”
Rory McIlroy had another frustrating day on the greens, none more so than the final green where he his approach into three feet, only to three-putt to leave a bad taste as he quickly went from potentially four under to two under and tied 20th.
“Frustration. I just didn't have it on the greens,” said McIlroy. “I really struggled to read them. It's hard whenever you struggle to read them, and then when you do get over the ball, you're trying to trust what you're seeing, but everything else that you have seen hasn't went the way you thought, so it's hard to put a committed stroke on it. It's been a tough one on the greens the last two days. But tee to green I've actually been pretty happy with how everything else is. I just need to try to hole a few more over the weekend.
“Shane's [Lowry] going well, Tom's [McKibbin] had a couple good days. I'm hitting the ball well enough; I just need to try to hole a few more putts or get a handle on reading them a little bit better. I feel like I certainly have the ability and at least have the long game to do it. Just need to hole a few more on the greens.”
Ireland’s Liam Nolan made it into the weekend with his 72, 68 to be level par.
Seamus Power, Max Kennedy, Thomas Higgins, Cormac Sharvin, Padraig Harrington and Mark Power all missed the cut.
Round three will begin at 10:07 in three balls.
Round two scores
129 S LOWRY (IRL) 67 62,
132 H LI (CHN) 69 63, J OLESEN (DEN) 68 64, N NORGAARD (DEN) 68 64,
135 E FERGUSON (SCO) 69 66, K KOBORI (NZL) 68 67, T MCKIBBIN (NIR) 68 67, R HOJGAARD (DEN) 72 63, J NIEMANN (CHI) 65 70,
136 A SULLIVAN (ENG) 69 67, P REED (USA) 68 68, R NEERGAARD-PETERSEN (DEN) 69 67, J DANTORP (SWE) 69 67,
137 C HILL (SCO) 70 67, R MACINTYRE (SCO) 72 65, J RAHM (ESP) 70 67, R FISHER (ENG) 70 67, D LAW (SCO) 68 69, R PARATORE (ITA) 68 69,
138 N KIMSEY (ENG) 71 67, P WARING (ENG) 70 68, R MCILROY (NIR) 69 69, R LANGASQUE (FRA) 68 70, A MERONK (POL) 68 70, M STEINLECHNER (AUT) 66 72, C SYME (SCO) 68 70, D RODRIGUES (POR) 69 69, B WIESBERGER (AUT) 71 67, D HILLIER (NZL) 69 69, U COUSSAUD (FRA) 72 66, F CAPAN III (USA) 71 67,
139 R MANSELL (ENG) 76 63, R CABRERA BELLO (ESP) 68 71, D BRYANT (USA) 74 65, H DU PLESSIS (RSA) 74 65, J DEAN (ENG) 69 70, A FITZPATRICK (ENG) 69 70, S S?DERBERG (SWE) 75 64, N LEMKE (SWE) 71 68, S CROCKER (USA) 73 66, G DE LEO (ITA) 74 65, J SENIOR (ENG) 72 67, M MANASSERO (ITA) 74 65, S BAIRSTOW (ENG) 69 70, B STONE (RSA) 69 70, S MAZZOLI (ITA) 75 64,
140 O LINDELL (FIN) 70 70, H HALL (ENG) 70 70, L DONALD (ENG) 73 67, S GARCIA (ESP) 75 65, M WALLACE (ENG) 73 67, L NOLAN (IRL) 72 68, A DEL REY (ESP) 70 70, J GIRRBACH (SUI) 69 71, J WINTHER (DEN) 70 70, S NORRIS (RSA) 67 73, D MICHELUZZI (AUS) 71 69, J MORRISON (ENG) 71 69,
141 D VAN DRIEL (NED) 71 70, B KOEPKA (USA) 75 66, F MOLINARI (ITA) 72 69, P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP) 71 70, J VEERMAN (USA) 72 69, F LAPORTA (ITA) 70 71, T VAILLANT (FRA) 69 72, A HIDALGO (ESP) 75 66, S STRAKA (AUT) 71 70, E CHACARRA (ESP) 72 69, J RITCHIE (RSA) 69 72,
142 R HOSHINO (JPN) 74 68, N ELVIRA (ESP) 72 70, A AYORA (ESP) 73 69, L CANTER (ENG) 74 68, T DETRY (BEL) 74 68, O GUILLAMOUNDEGUY (FRA) 73 69, Z LOMBARD (RSA) 74 68, T CLEMENTS (ENG) 70 72, K LEE (KOR) 73 69, D PUIG (ESP) 71 71, J SCHAPER (RSA) 70 72, M ELVIRA (ESP) 75 67, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 72 70, M HELLIGKILDE (DEN) 72 70,
143 J GUERRIER (FRA) 75 68, Y KATSURAGAWA (JPN) 74 69, D RAVETTO (FRA) 71 72, R GOUVEIA (POR) 73 70, M HOLLICK (RSA) 75 68, N H?JGAARD (DEN) 69 74, T LAWRENCE (RSA) 72 71, A ROZNER (FRA) 78 65, T OLESEN (DEN) 72 71, M LINDBERG (SWE) 71 72, Y PREMLALL (RSA) 73 70,
144 M ARMITAGE (ENG) 76 68, M KENNEDY (IRL) 73 71, M JORDAN (ENG) 75 69, D BRADBURY (ENG) 72 72, J SCRIVENER (AUS) 73 71, A OTAEGUI (UAE) 76 68, S POWER (IRL) 73 71, G FORREST (SCO) 72 72, G MIGLIOZZI (ITA) 74 70,
145 Y ZHOU (CHN) 75 70, D FRITTELLI (RSA) 74 71, J LEE (KOR) 74 71, C SHARVIN (NIR) 73 72, B ROBINSON THOMPSON (ENG) 75 70, E VAN ROOYEN (RSA) 73 72, T HIGGINS (IRL) 74 71, R STERNE (RSA) 75 70, A WU (CHN) 79 66,
146 M COUVRA (FRA) 78 68, J GUMBERG (USA) 77 69, J KO (FRA) 76 70, J KRUYSWIJK (RSA) 79 67, S JAMIESON (SCO) 75 71, K KANEKO (JPN) 69 77, R JOHNSTON (USA) 73 73, K APHIBARNRAT (THA) 74 72,
147 J CAMPILLO (ESP) 71 76,
148 D GAVINS (ENG) 75 73, C JARVIS (RSA) 72 76, P HARRINGTON (IRL) 71 77, T HATTON (ENG) 78 70,
149 B SCHMIDT (ENG) 76 73, J SMITH (ENG) 73 76, J CATLIN (USA) 75 74, I CANTERO (ESP) 78 71,
150 D NAIDOO (RSA) 78 72, M POWER (IRL) 74 76,
151 F SCHOTT (GER) 78 73, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 81 70,
152 W DING (CHN) 73 79,
**
OUT D WILLETT (ENG) 78 WD, J LUITEN (NED) 76 WD, F LACROIX (FRA) 68 RT, M SCHNEIDER (GER) RT ,