Lowry hoping for lift-off

After missing the cut in each of his last three tournaments and dropping back to 103rd in the Race to Dubai on the European Tour order of merit, Shane Lowry was more than happy to shoot a birdie on his final hole to clinch his place in the final two rounds at Portrush.

“Relieved is a good word for it”, he admitted after atoning for a moderate even par 72 on Thursday with a fine round of 68.

“Every week I feel like I’m in a position where I need a good last few holes to make the cut and I haven’t been doing it. So it is great to do it here because it would have been very disappointing to miss the cut in the Irish Open.

“When things aren’t going your way, a little doubt comes into your mind and you always look for the quick fix. I came off the first round at Wentworth where I shot one-under and I remember asking ‘how did I shoot one-under there?’ It could easily have been five, six, seven, anything. That’s just how my golf is going recently. I just need to keep plugging away. That’s this game, isn’t it?”

And he visibly recoiled at the suggestion that he might hire a sports psychologist: “No, no, no. I think Neil (Manchip, his coach) is quite good at that. He actually gets me in a great mind to play.

“People don’t realise how hard it can be. Golf is different on a Friday compared to the weekend. I don’t know how to explain it but it’s always quite difficult to go out there when you’re on the cut mark. It’s mentally tough and I just haven’t been pulling it off recently. But it is nice to get past it this week and hopefully I can kick on at the week-end and post a few decent scores.”

As a former winner of the North of Ireland Championship at Portrush, Lowry is a great admirer of the links although, of course, he had never previously seen it set up for a professional tournament.

“It’s brilliant, isn’t it?”, he enthused. “It’s everything you dream of as a child. Great, great crowds. I remember watching Irish Opens at Portmarnock and this is what it was like. The great thing about the Irish crowds is they know their golf. They know when to clap and when not to clap.

“I just have to go out there now and try and shoot two low scores. I seem to play more freely on the weekend. The tight tee shots don’t worry me that much, the tight flags, I tend to go at them. That’s how I play golf, that’s why I make so many bogeys, that’s why I make so many birdies as well. I just have to go out there and commit to everything.”

Lowry, 25, was quietly amused that yesterday’s partners, Danny Willett and Matteo Manassero, are actually younger than him. As winner of the Irish Open as an amateur in 2009, he knows something about these things and was quick to advise Willett, who missed the cut having captured the BMW International in Cologne on the previous week.

‘Danny obviously didn’t do too well but I said to him coming back in the car on the way back ‘stop giving out, you only won five days ago”, Lowry stated.