Irish Open crowd phones it in on a buzzing opening day

Mobile phones were all the buzz in the days leading up to this week’s Irish Open but the only sounds puncturing the quiet of the tenth tee early yesterday as a trio of Irish players got their rounds under way was the birdsong from beyond the surrounding dunes.

The River Bann flowed lazily along to one side and the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean lapped gently onto the shore of the nearby Strand as Shane Lowry, Graeme McDowell, and Pádraig Harrington took their first swings between eight and half-past.

So much for Lowry’s prediction of a golfing apocalypse brought on by a soundtrack of bleeps and clicks, one delivered on the back of the European Tour’s relaxation on rules regarding the use of phones for photos and a competition offering prizes for the best of them.