Graeme McDowell counts blessings as Shane Lowry goes off-road at The Open
Lowry, 28, had come into this week’s Open buzzing with confidence and with all around him talking about a breakthrough at major championships that would propel the world No. 45 into golf’s big time.
He is still not out of it yet as he tees off today at one over par following a first-round 73, matched by 2011 champion Darren Clarke, but Lowry will know his score should have been so much better.
To sign for a 73 and have five birdies on his card will serve as a massive source of frustration and at its epicentre will be the quadruple bogey eight he took at the Old Course’s Road Hole.
Lowry had overcome a poor start which had left him two over after four holes and included a watery visit to the Swilcan Burn at the first. He wiped out those bogeys with birdies at the seventh and ninth before moving into contention with three more birdies on the back nine.
Then came disaster. Lowry drove out of bounds at the 17th as he tried to cut the corner over the perimeter of the Old Course Hotel and take a direct route to the Road Hole. Re-teeing playing three, Lowry found rough with successive shots before finding the bank protecting the green and needed a two-putt to get down for his dreaded ‘snowman’.
He had earned plaudits for keeping double bogeys to a minimum at Chambers Bay last month on his way to a tie for ninth at the US Open but a quadruple at St Andrews may prove terminal to his chances of making a similar impact here.
Lowry certainly had the sympathy of McDowell, who opened his account yesterday with a level-par 72 that was later matched by two-time champion Pádraig Harrington and should also have been much better.
“Seventeen has been very unkind to me over the years,” McDowell said when told of Lowry’s misfortune.
“Four there today was about 1.8 shots below my scoring average at 17, so I was pretty happy with that.
McDowell added: “I’m just trying to build some confidence myself.
“That’s all I’m lacking, really. I’m just lacking some tournament rounds, some under-par rounds and just that little bit of belief and confidence, but that’ll come. I’m enjoying it out there, which is a step in the right direction.”
McDowell had been encouraged by back-to-back 66s at Gullane last week in the Scottish Open that he felt pointed to a change in fortunes for him after a disappointing start to the season and there were plenty of positives, save for the birdies that went begging time and time again and stuck in his memory like a recurring bad dream.
The Portrush man reeled off missed chances on every outward nine hole bar the fourth and threw in two more on the inward run.
“It was there for the taking, I hit it lovely,” he said. “It’s not like panic button, shooting level par out there, it’s a case of getting out there and getting sharper on the greens — and staying in the tournament.
“If (the weather) turns tough tomorrow, anything around two or three under par is going to be right there or thereabouts.”
Harrington is seven years removed from his second Open victory at Birkdale in 2008 and was last of the Irish contingent to tee off, just as the wind started to blow significantly for the first time yesterday. He carded three birdies and three bogeys, including 17, for his opening 72.
“It was tough out there in the afternoon. You get the first couple of holes downwind and if do don’t take your chances, it’s a bit of a struggle after that,” Harrington said.
“I’m happy with the round. I played the last seven holes in level par which was a good recipe for a good round. I just made a few mistakes, or didn’t quite get the breaks going out, so maybe left three or four shots on the course for the first 11 holes but certainly the last seven holes I made up for it with good saves.
“Shooting two or three under par would have been an excellent day. Level par, it’s tough when you’ve seven under leading but that’s the nature of the golf course.”
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