Shane Lowry feeling the love at Mount Juliet as he plots weekend move

Shane Lowry reacts after a missed putt at the 18th during yesterday’s second round of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open at Mount Juliet. Picture: Warren Little/Getty Images

Shane Lowry had missed the crowds when Covid-19 sent the PGA and European Tours behind closed gates last year. So the rousing reception he received as he walked up Mount Juliet’s 18th fairway yesterday evening was something for him to savour as he strode towards the birdie putt that would give him a fighting chance over the weekend at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

Lowry, 34, was not unique in missing the galleries when professional golf returned after the first lockdown but spectators were kept away. Life in the United States has returned to near-normality, and with it have returned the crowds, but this week’s Irish Open has been special in welcoming back crowds in limited number for the first time since 2019. Another 2,500 or so were on the grounds yesterday, and much like the opening day on Thursday, the majority of them followed Lowry and Pádraig Harrington in the group behind him in one half of the day and then Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell in similar order in the opposite wave of players.

Lowry got the afternoon draw yesterday and he admitted to getting goosebumps from the ovation he received at the last, when the birdie putt he sank at 18 gave him a three-under 69 that moved him up the leaderboard to alongside McIlroy on five-under after 36 holes, eight shots behind halfway leader Lucas Herbert, the 2020 Dubai Desert Classic winner and world number 91.

Herbert has been in flying form, holing 17 birdies to get to 13-under, but it is Lowry and his fellow Irish major winners who are understandably feeling the love at Mount Juliet this weekend.

“Honestly, it was so good out there today,” Lowry said of the atmosphere. “They kind of get you going. I think when I come out, like talking to a few players this week, this is probably the first event with actual crowds, and most of the crowds are following Rory and GMac in the morning and me and Paddy in the afternoon, so it’s still only based around a couple of groups, so the other lads are playing with not many crowds.

“I struggled after lockdown, and honestly, when I look back, I really believe that that was from the lack of crowds and the lack of being out there and someone to cheer you on, and almost like at the end of the day, we’re obviously out there doing our best, but we’re trying to entertain as well.

“I’m trying to hit the best shots I can and it’s almost when you get a difficult shot, you’re nearly trying to show people what you can do. So to be out there today with the Irish crowd and walking down 18 — I got a great reception going down 18.

“That kind of gave me goosebumps going down there. Not sure if it was the cold, but it was nice, it was great to have people back.”

The cooler temperatures than Thursday may have had something to do with it, and today’s forecast is for steady rain as Ireland’s four remaining competitors, Lowry, McIlroy, and Cormac Sharvin on four-under and McDowell on three-under, attempt to close the gap on Herbert, who added a 67 to his opening 64 and said: “For a round that hopefully is not the better one of the week, I felt like I did really well to get a lot out of it and put myself into a very good position going into the weekend.”

The Australian holds a two-stroke lead over Andy Sullivan of England and Scotland’s Grant Forrest, who themselves are a shot in front of third alternate Dale Whitnell, the Englishman who arrived at the course on Wednesday having failed to get through final Open qualifying the day before, did not play a practice round and shot 67-67 in his first two trips around Mount Juliet.

Lowry agreed he will likely need something lower than a 67 in today’s third round to climb into contention for a final-day push for the title.

“Probably, but I’m not really going out to try and shoot 64. Look, at the end of the day, obviously I’d like to win and I’d like to have a good chance, give myself a bit of confidence going into my week off next week. That’s kind of what I’m looking for as well.” He is, though, delighted that the home supporters will have some Irish golfers to get behind at the business end of the weekend.

“It’s good for the tournament,” said Lowry. “It would be a disaster if one of us or a couple of us missed the cut. So it’s nice, even though small crowds or whatever, but it would be nice for the crowds to have the Irish lads out there tomorrow.”

Sharvin, from Ardglass, revealed he had shot his second-round 67 with a broken toe.

“I have a minuscule fracture of the toe and I have a lot of inflammation, so that’s why I’m wearing trainers [golf shoe trainers]. I kicked the coffee table in my bare feet when my phone was ringing, and hit it off the corner of the coffee table when I went to answer it.”