A lost cause for luckless Lowry

Frustration grows and grows for Shane Lowry. Last week he dropped three shots in the final three holes of the second round of the US Open at Pinehurst to miss the cut by a shot and yesterday at Fota Island he lost his chance of regaining the Irish Open that he captured as an amateur in 2009 by finishing one over par for 36 holes at Fota Island.

This time a lost ball at the long 18th, his ninth, played a major part in Lowry’s undoing. His tee shot landed in the trees to the right of the fairway and although several balls were found in there, Lowry’s was not among them.

“People spent more time taking pictures of me than looking for the ball so it was quite hard to find,” he lamented. “I probably should have been able to find it because there were a couple of hundred people looking. But saying that, it was an awful tee shot, although there are a lot more holes out there when you can get away with that kind of shot.

“Still, I made a good six there and it wasn’t the only place where I felt hard done by. I had this absolutely horrific lie at the eighth just two yards off the fairway. I got up there thinking it would be perfect and I’d have an eight iron for my second. And then you get that lie... I couldn’t even think about going for the green.

“My Thursday, Friday golf is just very tentative. I’m trying not to make mistakes. And I played lovely today. Apart from that tee shot on 18 and another on nine, there wasn’t much bad golf in there at all. I will battle on and will play BMW Championship in Germany next week.”

The day also ended in disappointment for Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley who finished on four over after a 73 that contained birdies at the par five 10th and 18th but four concessions to par. “I played poorly,” he admitted. “I haven’t been able to practice. I’m just too busy with my Ryder Cup responsibilities and happy to do all that but obviously it’s disappointing to miss the cut in my own national Open.”

In contrast was Peter Lawrie’s relief at surviving the cut after a very poor season that has left him in 190th position on the Race to Dubai order of merit with earnings of a mere €21,579 and facing a massive challenge to retain the Tour card he has held continuously since 2002. Last year, he came in 110th, just five inside the cut-off mark while yesterday’s 72 was too inconsistent for comfort. Thursday’s 69 puts him into the weekend.

“Yes, that is nice, because the family [wife Philippa, children Jessica, Amelia Jane, Elizabeth and Christopher] are here and they haven’t put the mockers on anything,” he joked.

“I have had 12 months of horrendous stuff, so hopefully I can play a bit better and turn it around. I am still hitting a lot of loose shots off the tee, it is more confidence than anything and is not swing related. I played decent enough down the stretch the last two days. I got it back to level yesterday with two birdies coming in. It was the much same thing today.”

Michael Hoey, who started three under par overnight, moved quickly to five under and in touch with the top of the leader board. He then ran up three bogeys in a row only to regroup and sign for an even par 71 to finish where he started and insisted: “Five or six under was on but I’m not out of it and I didn’t want to miss the cut on the first birthday of my son Erin.”

The sun may have shone brightly at Fota but for a succession of Irish club pros it was a pretty miserable experience. Big hitting Damian Mooney from Ballyliffin included a triple bogey eight at the 18th on the way to finishing 13 over, while Brendan McGovern from Headfort was only one shot better off.

Mark Staunton from Ballinasloe also finished down the field on 13 over but at least he had the somewhat dubious distinction of shooting some unusual numbers over Fota’s front nine. From the third he went birdie two, triple bogey seven, par, eagle two, birdie two, par and quintuple bogey nine.