Shane Lowry survives major scare to grab outright lead at The Open

Shane Lowry shake hands with Matt Fitzpatrick after the second round of The Open at Royal Troon. Picture: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire.

Shane Lowry survived a massive scare on the notorious 11th ‘Railway’ hole to card a brilliant 69 in worsening conditions on Friday to give himself every opportunity of winning a second open Championship over the weekend.

The 2019 champion was in all sorts of difficulty at the 11th, losing a ball in the gorse, finding it courtesy of a spectator when he would have preferred to play the provisional, and eventually signing for a double bogey.

He explained later that a cameraman’s movement had distracted him mid-swing and, already fearful of the train tracks to his right, he snagged the club and sent it shooting at almost right angles across the fairway and over the gallery’s heads.

Lowry had declined the opportunity to find his original after playing the provisional but the rules decreed that, once it was found, he had to identify it and play it and the whole episode took 20 minutes before it was resolved with his fourth to the edge of the green.

It was a chapter that could have torn up the entire script.

Shane Lowry is the clubhouse leader on 7 under par 👏 pic.twitter.com/DZhqMR5Q2W

— Sky Sports Golf (@SkySportsGolf) July 19, 2024

“I felt like I was very calm and composed and really knew that I was doing the right thing, and I felt like Darren [Reynolds, his caddie] did a great job too. He kept telling me, we have loads of time. We don't need to rush this. We just need to do the right thing here.

“To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a six. It was not like… It wasn't a disaster. I was still leading the tournament.” There was a bogey at the par-three 5th and some dicey moments thereafter too but this was another exceptional round of golf by the man who had started his week with a brilliant 66 on Thursday that had left him one off the lead.

His 36-hole effort left him on seven-under par by mid-afternoon, two ahead of the rest of the field that was playing in winds that were picking up speeds of anywhere north of 30mph and guts that are expected to continue through most of Friday.

Lowry got his round underway shortly before 10am when the conditions were still at their most benign and he was two-under for his round after the first four holes with birdies at the 1st and 4th, both on the back of excellent approach shots.

He gave one back at the par-three 5th, his tee shot finding a bunker front right and, while the second was impressive, he missed the nine-foot putt for the save just as the wind started to pick up on pace and bump up the scoring averages.

A brilliant tee shot at the par-three 8th, the iconic Postage Stamp, secured another birdie and a return to seven-under for the tournament and he was still at that and in sole possession of the lead approaching the tee at the expensive 11th.

He still shared the lead with Daniel Brown at that point and, while he struggled at times to keep things together for the next hour, he navigated the stretch from 12 through to 15 with a quartet of pars.

A birdie at the gettable par-five 16th bumped the Offaly man back into the outright lead on six-under and he capped off the round with another birdie from 2 feet and one he greeted with a pump of the fist.

“The 12th hole for me was key. 12 was playing very difficult, straight into the wind. I hit driver, four-iron there too - the best shots I've hit all week - to about 30 feet and made par there.

“From then on, I felt like down out of the left coming in, it was playing quite difficult, but I felt like you could give yourself chances on the way in, and that's what I did.” It all leaves him perfectly poised halfway through the tournament but Lowry struck a cautionary note after his brilliant 66 on day one and he was in no mood to get ahead of himself after his second 18 either when asked if he was a man to be feared now.

“Honestly, I'm not sure Scottie Scheffler is too worried about anyone with the form he's in. He's obviously on the leaderboard, and he's one person that people are going to be talking about.

“There's some other guys there as well. I see Justin Rose going well, and this guy Daniel Brown, I've never played with him, but obviously he had a great day yesterday and looks to be going all right today.

“Yeah, I don't know, like, I think if I give myself a chance on Sunday, I know I can do it. That's as good a position to be in as any.”