Shane Lowry shoots course record 62 to lead Irish Open at Doonbeg 

It leaves him in prime position as this tournament passes the halfway mark.

"It's good. Look, 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."

It could have been even better, only for a 20-foot birdie putt at the last to come up short, but it was a stunning effort by the Clara man in front of a huge gallery that mingled throughout the day with the hundreds following Rory McIlroy’s group in front.

There was giddy talk outside the ropes of a possible 59 as he approached the 10th, such was the quality of his play up to that point, and Lowry laughed and admitted that the same thought crossed his mind at one point.

"Yeah, I did think about it, until I three-putted 13. No, I did have a little laugh. You know, out in 30 and the back nine is only 34, so, yeah, you do kind of think about it a little bit. But I think I was very good, I just kind of was at the job at hand today. 

"I know I made a little mistake on 13, but I think I did a good job after that of playing the rest of the round really well and giving myself a couple of chances on the way in."

McIlroy, the two-time Masters champion, didn’t manage anything like the same highs, coming home in a one-under par 69 having dropped a shot because of a messy three-putt from no distance at all on the 18th. It leaves him nine off Lowry at the top.

Shane Lowry finds ANOTHER birdie 😮‍💨

He drains his ninth birdie of the round at the 15th and lead by five again.#AmgenIrishOpen pic.twitter.com/IBPsfTb5zu

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) September 11, 2026

The Offaly man was two shots behind overnight leader Joaquin Niemann after an opening three-under 67 and he has followed it up with a blistering six birdies before the turn to streak into a four-shot lead approaching lunchtime.

Lowry held a three-shot lead coming off the course with Jacob Skov Olesen closest to him and near the end of his 18. Li Haotong of Chine was one more further back at -7 coming up the last. Tom McKibbin was in a share for fifth at five-under after a second round of 67.

The wind dropped considerably after Thursday’s gusts and the sun was dappling the West Clare coastline and dunes from early on as fans shed their rain macks and the lucky few slapped on the sun cream.

All of that was reflected in the scoring with just half-a-dozen players over-par - and barely at that – approaching three o’clock in the afternoon.