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One Step Back; One Step Forward For Shane Lowry At Irish Open

Thursday, 1 July 2021 07:12

By Robbie Fahy @RobbieFahy

Photo Credit: Shane Lowry Instagram

Moving day continues at Mount Juliet.

Day Three:

Shane Lowry failed to capitalise on yesterday's 69 during moving day at the Irish Open. 

An early tee time allowed The Open Champion a shot at reducing the deficit between himself an overnight leader Lucas Herbert (-13), which stood at 8 shots. 

It proved a bit of a slog however. 

A double-bogey on the third hole followed by another dropped shot on the fourth eliminated all the strokes picked up by the Clara man yesterday.  

Lowry has managed to steady the ship with a birdie on the fifth and four straight pars to make the turn in 38 but he couldn't claw any more ground back during the closing holes. 

A run of bogey, birdie, bogey, birdie sandwiched by a cluster of pars, ensured it was a case of one step back, one step forward overall.

It all means Lowry is back on his Thursday total of -3. 

Rory McIlroy finished  +1 for his round today and is -4 overall. 

 

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Day Two: 

Athlone resident Colm Moriarty is among the early starters as he looks to build on an excellent opening round at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. 

He is one over for the day through seven holes but remains on three under par and in a tie for 43rd. 

Rory McIlroy is the big mover, having started on level par for the tournament he is five under through eleven and has leapfrogged into contention. 

Shane Lowry is back out on course from 1pm alongside Jonathon Caldwell and Martin Kaymer needing to make a move to keep pace. 

The Open Champion is currently seven shots of the pace setters as he warms up for his round out on the range. 

 

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Day-One:

Four birdies and two bogeys will not put Shane Lowry out of contention following his opening 18 holes but once again he may feel it's a case of what could have been.

Starting on the par five 10th hole the Clara man began with three straight pars before dropping a shot on thirteen. 

That seemed to kick The Open champion into gear and he recovered nicely to pick up shots on three of his next six holes and drag himself back to -2 thru 11 holes. 

Another dropped shot on a par five (he played the four longest holes at even par) left him in limbo as he went down the stretch. 

However displaying all the fighting qualities that earned him the Claret Jug, Lowry managed to sink a fourth birdie of the day on the 7th, followed by two pars for a round of 70 and at the time of writing a 30th place on the leaderboard. 

He is back on the course at 1pm tomorrow afternoon. 

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Twelve years on from exploding onto the scene, Shane Lowry starts the build up in earnest for the defence of his Open title this weekend. 

He plays alongside Martin Kaymer and Jonathon Caldwell for the first two days at the Irish Open. 

'It's been a long time since Offaly won in Kilkenny' said Lowry during yesterday's Pro-Am event. 

Mount Juliet is a test of 7,264 yards and a course on which Shane Lowry will be looking to build some confidence in his putting. 

The short stick has been letting him down recently, going cold at key moments in the last two majors. 

The Clara man hasn't had a great time on home soil since winning in 2009 and will look to rectify that and build momentum ahead of Royal St.George's in a fortnight. 

In all there are 16 Irish golfers in the field and 2 thousand 500 people will attend each day. 

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