Search

Listen Live

On Air Now

Noon - 3:00pm

Carl James

Culture Club

Karma Chameleon

Shane Lowry Open Championship Blog - Day 3

Thursday, 15 July 2021 09:41

You can follow Shane's progress during his Open title defence here.

Day Three:

It's moving day at Royal St. Georges but moving day started yesterday for Shane Lowry. 

What a stunning round of 65 to lift the Clara man to -4 from +1 yesterday afternoon. 

The difference from day one was definitely between tee and green. 

The defending champion hit 12 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 GIR so he was always giving himself a chance to make birdie if the putter was in halfway decent shape.

Here's what he had to say after that performance:

Yeah, I'm pretty happy. Obviously I was going out today on the cut mark. Knew the cut was probably going to be 1-over maybe -- to be honest, I thought it was going to go to 2-over but looks like it's going to be 1-over. So need to go shoot a decent number to put myself up the leaderboard.

Obviously saw Collin got 9-under this morning, which you know is a difficult situation when you're going out to not try and force it or get too ahead of yourself. I played lovely golf today and put myself in the fairway, and when I did, I gave myself chances and managed to hole a few putts, so very happy on my day.

On the possibility of retaining his title:

Yeah, obviously I'm seven back now. I was, whatever, seven back when I finished yesterday, so not much different. I was 10 back in morning. Knew I needed to shoot a good score. To be honest, I sat down this morning with high coach Neil and we talked through yesterday's round. I felt I was a bit hard on myself yesterday. I didn't play as bad as I felt I did.

So just kind of trusted myself to go out there today and shoot a good score, and thankfully I did.

On what he worked on with Neil Manchip overnight:

I didn't feel like I hit my driver very well yesterday and I stood up hit it 40 yards right on the 1st today, so I felt like I had it fixed. And then I only -- didn't hit many drivers out there today. I hit a lot of 3-irons off the tee. We got very fortunate with the weather. The course firmed up and there wasn't as much wind as maybe yesterday or this morning.

I was able to hit a lot of 3-irons off the tee. I just said I feel like if I'm on the fairway and I have an iron shot, no matter what club it is, obviously 6-iron down, I feel like I can give myself chances.

We just focused on putting ourselves in good positions off the tee and it paid off. I think as it firms up over the weekend it'll suit me a little bit better as well. Look, I hit a couple of decent drives out there today, but I think I only hit four drivers, so -- four, yeah, is all I hit today. That's kind of probably going to my strategy at the weekend. We'll see how windy it gets or how many drivers I need to hit. It's not like I can't hit it. I'm still hitting it okay.

But, yeah, I just felt like I struggled with my driver. Like I said the question beforehand, I actually was a bit too hard on myself after yesterday's round and I didn't play as badly as I thought I did. Just kind of I didn't put it together, and I probably could have shot under par yesterday if a couple things would've went my way.

Yeah, just put it in play off the tee and I feel like I can shoot a score around here.

On the motivation of other golfers playing well around you:

Yeah, it helps you. Whenever one in the group is playing well it helps. I'm sure I helped the lads playing well and getting off to a good start and making a few birdies.

That spurs them on as well. Kind of bounce off each other today. It does help whenever one in the group is playing well. When you're playing with someone who is leading the testimony does spur you on to try and catch them.

I was out there trying to get as many shots as I could back on Louis towards the end because I knew he was going be the leader going into the weekend.

Yeah, we had a great day out there. Like 60 and under for three ball around St George's is pretty good. I'm not sure too many other three balls will do better than that.

Lowry is back out on course at 2pm today alongside American Brandt Snedeker.

Day Two:

The second round of the Open Championship is underway at Royal St George's. 

There's been some early moves from Collin Morikawa who is three under thru eight and the new joint leader. 

Tony Finau who is four under playing the front nine and Johannes Veerman is three under after 12 holes. 

Shane Lowry is back on the course from 3pm this afternoon alongside overnight leader Louis Oosthuizen and John Rahm.

He's currently seven shots off the lead on one over par. 

Speaking after yesterday's round, the defending champion was frustrated:

I'd say I played pretty average. I didn't play my best golf. But then again, you're playing with Louis who's shooting 6-under and playing great. It kind of makes you feel probably a little bit different.

Disappointed to bogey the last. I think if I would have parred the last and shot level par I would have been quite happy with myself going home this afternoon, but I didn't. I got an unfortunate bounce and went into the bunker and made bogey.

But I battled hard. I was quite proud of myself. On to tomorrow.

On what he was going to work on ahead of round number two:

I need to hit the ball in play better, especially with my driver. I didn't hit many fairways with my driver. I did hit quite a few 3-irons off the tees and I hit fairways, but you need to drive the ball in play.

Playing this course out of the rough is not the place to be. Yeah, I'm going to hit a few drives when I finish here and hopefully sort something out for tomorrow.

And the return of fans:

It was great. It was a very special day for me. The announcement on the first tee, I've been waiting over a year for that, so it's quite nice. It was quite unsettling at the start. I got off to a pretty nervy start. I battled hard for the rest of it.

But it's so good to have the crowds here and it's so good to be playing in the Open Championship like we know. Like the big grandstands and the big crowds and getting clapped on the grandstands and on the tees, that's pretty cool.

Day One:

It's been a difficult opening day for Shane Lowry as he defends The Open Championship. 

A closing bogey left him signing for a one over par round of 71. 

In total he had five dropped shots offset by four birdies on 6,12,16 and 17. 

His day started off in the worst possible fashion with back to back bogeys. 

Lowry managed to steady the ship before pulling one of those strokes back on the par three sixth. 

A series of pars followed before another dropped shot due to a pulled tee shot on eleven.

The Clara man was forced to show the same mettle after a bogey on fifteen sent him back to two over for his round.

He had shown great determination over the closing stretch to record back to back birdies on 16 and 17 before a poor approach out of a bunker on the final hole put him out of position and he was unable to rescue par.

Two time champion Padraig Harrington's 3 over after 7 holes while 2014 winner Rory McIlroy tees off at 3:20pm.

Former champions Louis Oosthuizen is the leader on 6 under par, while American Jordan Speith is a shot behind on 5 under.

Speaking before his round, Lowry says it's an adjustment returning to links golf from the US:

Share

More from Sports

Download Our App

Never miss a moment from Midlands 103