McIlroy in tie for second at Irish Open, Lowry in the hunt

The home crowd favourite sits a shot off the early clubhouse lead of five under par held by Laurie Canter at Royal County Down.

ON THE MOVE: Rory McIlroy makes his way from the FIFth tee box at the Royal County Down Golf Club in Newcastle. Pic: Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile

Rory McIlroy carried his first-day momentum into the second round of the Amgen Irish Open as he climbed the leaderboard at Royal County Down on Friday.

The world number three, who won his national open in 2016 at The K Club, had finished his opening round with a hat-trick of consecutive birdies on Thursday afternoon for a three-under-par 68 and followed that with a one-under-par 70 the following morning to sit a shot off the early clubhouse lead of five under par held by England’s Laurie Canter.

Shane Lowry was another early starter on Friday and shot a two-under 69 to move to one under par after 36 holes, still in the hunt for a repeat of his 2009 victory at Baltray.

The scenario facing the leading Irish lights may have been gloomier had hopes of a home not been boosted by some misfortune for an early runaway leader at the outset of the second round, Spain’s Alejandro Del Rey had opened a three-shot lead on the field at eight under par only for a disastrous quadruple-bogey eight at the par-four 15th to send him back into the pack, thereby changing the complexion of the leaderboard.

That left Canter in the early 36-hole clubhouse lead at five under par following a three-under 68. Whatever the second half of the draw manages on Friday afternoon, Canter appears to be in a strong position heading into the weekend and confidence remains high after a maiden DP World Tour victory in June at the European Open.

“I think the scoring is going to be really bunched around here,” Canter said. “I mean, you've just seen Alex (Del Rey) make a big number on 15 to kind of drop out of the lead.

“I think this is really going to be a patience test. You need to know the golf course, know where you're hitting it. Me and my caddie have done a lot of homework the last three days. I think we've got a good plan, but we're going to need a good plan, execute well and need a bit of luck.

“I think if I get those three things and any type of chance on Sunday, I'll feel more confident than I did before I won, put it that way. There's obviously some pretty good players. Taking Rory on at County Down is going to be a bit of a task. But let's give it a go.” 

McIlroy, playing alongside fellow Holywood golfer Tom McKibbin and attracting the largest galleries at Royal County Down, had given his supporters plenty to cheer after rebounding from an early bogey at his fifth hole, the par-three 14th, with a birdie at the par-four 15th. The volume increased as he turned for home with an eagle at the par-five first, only to give a shot back at the par-four fifth having found a fairway bunker off the tee.

The four-time major champion looked in further bother at his last of the round, the ninth, when he found right rough off the tee and then missed the green but McIlroy recovered well, almost sank a birdie putt from the fringe of the green and escaped with a par.

It was also a reasonably good day for Shane Lowry as his bid to complete a unique double of amateur and professional victories in the Irish Open stayed on course despite a bogey at his final hole of the day, the par-four ninth. Lowry, who won as an amateur at Baltray in 2009, had been satisfied with an opening one-over 72 in more testing conditions on Thursday afternoon and the following morning returned to card a two-under-par 69.

The closing bogey will have stung, however, Lowry having found right rough off the tee, then missed the green with his approach. An excellent chip onto the putting surface gave the in-form 2019 Open champion a chance of a good up and down but he miss his par putt from inside four feet and was lying four back from Canter’s lead ahead of the afternoon wave of golfers.

There was no repeat of Sean Keeling’s first-round heroics as the 17-year-old amateur found the going a little tougher during his second round on Friday morning. Keeling had impressed late on Thursday evening as he birdied the 18th having posted 17 consecutive pars on his Irish Open debut.

Keeling, from Roganstown, and a member of the family that gives its name to the well-known Irish fruit business, had been mature enough to recognise there would be downs as well as ups over the rest of the tournament and two birdies and four bogeys over his 12 holes left him on the projected cutline at two over par for the week with six holes to play.