Lowry puts pros in the shade
Even though he shot a fine round of 68 in the worst of the weather to get to three under, the three-time major champion missed his fourth cut of the year by a single shot.
Otherwise, it was an amazing day for the home contingent with the 22-year-old amateur Shane Lowry from Esker Hills showing the cream of European professional golf the way home, having turned in a 62 for a 15 under par total of 129.
He leads by two strokes from his closest rivals, England’s Robert Rock and Welshman Jamie Donaldson. Not even such a spectacular round, however, set a new course record as Graeme McDowell went one better, improving on his first round score by an astonishing 16 shots.
In all, seven Irish players are through to the week-end. Lowry leads the way on 15 under after adding a 62 yesterday to Thursday’s 67, while Rory McIlroy, 68 for seven under, seems to have his game nicely under control and would assuredly be closer had he enjoyed better fortune on the greens.
McDowell’s amazing 61 has catapulted him out of the no-hoper category and into the thick of the battle on six under, while also setting their sights on substantial pay cheques are Paul McGinley, Darren Clarke and Gary Murphy, five under, and Damien McGrane, who birdied the last to get in on the limit.
Unfortunately, the weather forecast is so horrendous that it has been decided to start today’s third round at 7am off the 1st and 10th tees in the hope of completing play before the anticipated storms come in around 3pm.
It is the first time an amateur has led at the halfway stage of the championship. Previous best was Sergio Garcia, joint ninth at Druids Glen in 1998, and the highest finish by a member of the unpaid brigade was Eoghan O’Connell in a share of 15th at Portmarnock in 1988.
The previous low round by an amateur was Arthur Pierse at Royal Dublin in 1984 and, of course, Lowry himself on Thursday.
“I got off to a flying start by chipping in at the first and in all had nine birdies and an eagle and also one bogey but all the time I was just thinking of getting it around and this is as good as I can ask for,” said the Offaly man.
“I expected to do well coming here because I know the course well but for now anyway it’s hard not to think of actually winning. You look at the scoreboards and see your name up there and you obviously think you can win. If I won, it would open all sorts of new doors for me but I’m just going to play as best I can.”
Lowry will join the paid ranks at the end of the year, but before that his aim is to achieve a boyhood dream and make the Britain & Ireland Walker Cup team at Merion, Pennsylvania, in August. He doesn’t particularly fancy the difficult conditions predicted for today but isn’t afraid of them either.
“I grew up in Ireland and I should be able to handle it,” he maintained.
“I’m a laid back kind of guy and just let things happen. A lot of people told me during the week to just go out and play like it’s the East of Ireland. I know the course really well and I’m not worrying about the galleries. I actually like playing in front of crowds and I can’t wait to get out there tomorrow but it’s going to be tough and I’ll be nervous as well.”
There has already been one amateur winner of a professional event in this country. David Sheahan captured the Jeyes tournament at Royal Dublin in 1962 while Spaniard Pablo Martin won the Portuguese Open in 2007 and Danny Lee came out best in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth earlier this season.
Had Graeme McDowell broken into a few bars of What a Difference a Day Makes, few could have blamed him. He admitted to “extreme disappointment” after Thursday’s 77 but even then took a deal of positives out of it for he felt he hadn’t played all that badly.
“I had my sights set on a 66 that might get me in for the week-end but in hindsight I needed something ridiculous to get in,” he said. “I can’t believe how low the cut is and it’s a testament to how good these guys are.
“I count myself very lucky to have been on the right side of the draw but even now there are some regrets. Of course I was thinking 59 when eight under after eight and it’s hard to keep those thoughts out of your head. In some ways, making bogey at 13 was the best thing that could have happened, it kind of gave me the kind of kick I needed to refocus.”
McDowell, 30 in July, put his score down to a remarkable display of putting. He used the blade 23 times compared with 34 on Thursday and felt the remaining five-stroke improvement was attributable to hitting five more fairways.
Harrington’s eclipse was both a tragedy for the player himself and a great pity for the tournament itself. He was desperately unlucky with the weather on both days but others, including his partner, Lee Westwood who is ideally poised on ten under, coped admirably.
This is his second time missing the cut in the Irish Open after Portmarnock in 2003. Other notables who will miss the weekend are John Daly, who took 75 yesterday; the defending champion Richard Finch and the Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez.
129 S Lowry (Ire) 67 62
131 R Rock 66 65, J Donaldson 66 65
132 Paul Lawrie 66 66
133 R Kakko (Fin) 66 67, N Dougherty 66 67, T Levet (Fra) 67 66
134 S Kjeldsen (Den) 67 67, O Wilson 66 68, L Westwood 68 66, J Edfors (Swe) 64 70
135 W Besseling (Ned) 69 66, G Orr 68 67, C Montgomerie 70 65, A Forsyth 67 68, P Martin (Spa) 70 65, J M Lara (Spa) 67 68, A McLardy (Rsa) 69 66
136 F Molinari (Ita) 63 73, C Wood 69 67, A Hansen (Den) 68 68, R Echenique (Arg) 69 67, L Slattery 67 69, M Warren 67 69, R Cabrera Bello (Spa) 67 69, G Havret (Fra) 70 66
137 S Kapur (Ind) 66 71, R Fisher 70 67, D Horsey 70 67, M Siem (Ger) 69 68, L Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 69, R Jacquelin (Fra) 71 66, R McIlroy (Irl) 69 68, D Drysdale 69 68, S Dodd 70 67, J Clement (Swi) 67 70
138 R Jan Derksen (Ned) 69 69, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 69 69, S Webster 70 68, G McDowell (Irl) 77 61, P Larrazabal (Spa) 68 70, J-MOlazabal (Spa) 71 67, T Bjorn (Den) 71 67, S Little 72 66
139 R Bland 71 68, C Schwartzel (Rsa) 72 67, P Waring 72 67, S Hansen (Den) 71 68, M Lafeber (Ned) 69 70, S Dyson 71 68, D Clarke (Irl) 71 68, G Storm 70 69, T Jaidee (Tha) 69 70, G Lockerbie 69 70, B Rumford (Aus) 73 66, G Murphy (Irl) 70 69, N Fasth (Swe) 71 68, P Figueiredo (Por) 72 67, E Canonica (Ita) 69 70, P McGinley (Irl) 71 68
140 D Carter 71 69, P Sjoland (Swe) 73 67, D McGrane (Irl) 69 71, M Erlandsson (Swe) 68 72, J Sandelin (Swe) 70 70, S Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 74 66, M Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 72 68, P Hedblom (Swe) 68 72, P Broadhurst 71 69, S Khan 72 68, A Wall 72 68, A Noren (Swe) 70 70, M Jonzon (Swe) 71 69, M Fraser (Aus) 69 71
Missed the cut
141 M Lundberg (Swe) 68 73, C Cevaer (Fra) 74 67, R Ramsay 72 69, M Ilonen (Fin) 72 69, R Dinwiddie 67 74, S O’Hara 70 71, K Ferrie 71 70, S Benson 74 67, A Kang (USA) 69 72, S Gallacher 68 73, D Dixon 72 69, R Finch 73 68, J-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 76 65, B Dredge 71 70, R Sterne (Rsa) 73 68, P Harrington (Irl) 73 68
142 D Vancsik (Arg) 75 67, P Hanson (Swe) 69 73, J-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 72 70, T Aiken (Rsa) 73 69, J Huldahl (Den) 70 72, D Smyth (Irl) 72 70, Richard Green (Aus) 71 71, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 78 64
143 J Caldwell (Irl) 76 67, A Velasco (Spa) 73 70, B Barham 75 68, Peter Lawrie (Irl) 72 71, O Fisher 73 70, J Daly (USA) 68 75, A Canizares (Spa) 75 68, I Garrido (Spa) 71 72, O Henningsson (Swe) 71 72, P O’Malley (Aus) 76 67
144 E Brady (Irl) 71 73, M A Carlsson (Swe) 71 73, D Howell 71 73, S Strange (Aus) 76 68, R Davies 73 71, K Eriksson (Swe) 71 73, E Arthurs (Irl) 76 68, J Bickerton 77 67, Ci Nirat (Tha) 72 72, B Lane 73 71, R Giles 72 72
145 N Fox (Ire) 72 73, G Maybin (Irl) 73 72, F Delamontagne (Fra) 69 76, M Brown (Nzl) 71 74, D Frost (Rsa) 70 75, S Wakefield 71 74, F Aguilar (Chi) 74 71, R Gonzalez (Arg) 74 71, A Tadini (Ita) 72 73, M A Jimenez (Spa) 73 72, R McGowan 73 72
146 B Trainor (Irl) 73 73, H Otto (Rsa) 71 75, T Remkes (Ned) 76 70, P Price 71 75
147 M Mcgeady (Ire) 75 72, Z Scotland 76 71, P Walton (Ire) 74 73, J Kelly (Irl) 73 74, S Drummond 75 72, P Edberg (Swe) 74 73, G Fdez-Castano (Spa) 73 74
148 A Rocha (Bra) 74 74, A Haig (Rsa) 74 74, M Campbell (Nzl) 76 72, J Kingston (Rsa) 71 77, S Arnold (Hkg) 78 70, P Archer 72 76, S Thornton (Irl) 76 72
149 E Goya (Arg) 70 79
150 P-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 74 76, Mark Foster 74 76
153 D Mooney (Irl) 76 77
154 J Dwyer (Irl) 77 77
DQ: M Hoey (Irl), F Molinari (Ita)
RTD: J Randhawa (Ind), D Lynn.
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