Lowry Has Irish Open in Sights

Shane Lowry R2 TPC Sawgrass - Getty Images

Shane Lowry is hoping his brilliant opening round of 65 at the Players’ Championship on Thursday can set his season alight and inspire a big performance at next week's Dubai Duty Free Irish Open.

The Irishman saw his fortunes on the greens take a dramatic upturn following a tip from Graeme McDowell at Sawgrass last week, and he hopes that brilliant seven-under-par first round is the catalyst for an unforgettable summer.

A strong showing in America this weekend would see Lowry, who won the 2009 Irish Open as an amateur, arrive at The K Club full of confidence and ready to produce his best in front of an adoring home crowd .

Lowry has missed only two cuts from ten appearances in 2016, with his best performance so far coming at the Phoenix Open, where he tied sixth in February.

An unforgettable hole in one on the par-three 16th in the final round of the Masters left Lowry an Augusta memory to savour, but he left the first Major of the season knowing he should have finished higher than 39th place.

With a huge prize fund of €4m, a victory in Kildare would reignite Lowry’s Ryder Cup dream and send him into the most important stretch of golf in his career with the confidence and swagger that saw him claim his first World Golf Championship title last summer.

“Next week's a massive week for me,” said the Offaly man. "I feel like I have the game to contend in Majors and the biggest tournaments in the world."

“I'd love nothing more than to go back home next week and win the Irish Open. I am very much a confidence player, and rounds like I had on Thursday make me believe more and more that I am close to getting some big results.

“I need to kick on and start winning and getting into contention. I want to be playing well this summer because there are so many big events and I feel like I have the game to contend in Majors and the biggest tournaments in the world.

"I also want to secure my place on the Irish Olympic team and put myself in contention for the Ryder Cup team.”

“The Irish Open is a bit of a crazy week for the Irish players because there is so much going on during the week, but you have got to embrace it and try to enjoy it.

"I definitely thrive on playing in front of a home crowd, and the Irish fans are always brilliant with the home players. The support I get at home is unbelievable.”

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McIlroy Overcomes Sawgrass with 64

McIlroy at Sawgrass R2 - Getty Images

Rory McIlroy’s second round in The Players produced a career-best 64, to move to eight-under-par at TPC Sawgrass, and some satisfaction over course that has over the years has caused the Holywood golfer grief.

McIlroy wasted no time in making his move, an opening with a 25 foot for birdie on the 10th, his first of the day, which was followed by four birdies in a row. There was a six-footer on 15 for his fifth birdie and then rolled in a 55 footer from off the green for eagle on the Par 5 16th.

That run on his front nine enabled him to match the day-old record of 29 strokes set by Shane Lowry on Thursday. “The back nine could not have played any easier,” admitted McIlroy.

However the fireworks of that stretch didn’t continue into the homeward run,  with further birdies at the second and seventh only to come unstuck on the Par 5 ninth where McIlroy opted to lay-up with his approach. 

Having left 270 yards to the front of the green he played a poor third shot into the grassy bank of a greenside bunker and ran up a bogey six.

“I guess I have got it in my head that any time I have went for the green it hasn’t really worked out that well for me. With hindsight, that pin being on the left side, (hitting it) anywhere on the right and I would have had a chance to get up and down. But I thought if I get it within 100 yards and take my chance from there. I didn’t hit a great third shot. Maybe if I had it back, I would go for the green,” explained McIlroy, who had eyed a possible 62 if he’d managed to birdie his closing hole.

A round of 64 moved him into contention and into a position far removed from his early years in playing at Sawgrass when he missed the cut in his first three appearances in the tournament. 

“I hit a lot of quality shots, hopefully I’ll continue to see that over the weekend.”

McIlroy wasn’t the only one to take advantage of benign conditions and soft greens, as Colt Knost hit all 18 greens in regulation and shot a course record equalling 63 to leapfrog through the field to lie on 135 at the halfway stage.

Knost even had a chance to set a new course record, but three-putted the 18th for a bogey. “I was fine over the first putt. I was trying to two-putt it, which is probably the problem instead of trying to make it. I was a little nervous over the second one. I knew what it was for. But I didn’t hit a bad putt, I hit it on the left lip and it just stayed there and lipped out.”

Graeme McDowell fired a second round 70 for 142 to at least survive the midway cut.

Pádraig Harrington’s 74 means he missed back-to-back cuts after also failing to survive at the Wells Fargo last week.

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Lowry 29 Sets Sawgrass Record

Lowry at TPC Sawgrass - Getty Images

Shane Lowry fired a record back nine of 29 strokes at TPC Sawgrass for an opening round of  65, seven under par, at The Players Championship on Thursday.

It was slightly overshadowed though by Jason Day’s course record-equalling 63 which was made up of nine birdies and nine pars and enabled the Australian to grab the lead.

 

Day’s error-free round gave him a two-stroke lead over Lowry,Justin Rose and American trio of Cameron Tringale, Brendan Steele and Bill Haas on a day of little wind and fine scoring.

Jordan Spieth – playing for the first time since his Masters collapse last month – suffered a double-bogey seven on the Par 5 ninth, his finishing hole. Asked what had happened, he quipped: “ I hit it seven times.” He signed for a level par 72.

Rory McIlroy was nine shots off the lead after a 72 containing two birdies and two bogeys, the 27-year-old finishing alongside Rickie Fowler after the defending champion carded a double bogey on the 18th. 

Graeme McDowell and Pádraig Harrington, both out in the tougher afternoon conditions, shot level-par 72s.

Day’s 63 was 18 strokes better than his second-round 81 a year ago when he missed the cut for a third time in five appearances on the Pete Dye design.

“I was under par going through my first nine but there were guys at seven under when I was five under and I’m there going, ‘Okay, I’ve got to keep pushing. When you see someone up the leaderboard distancing themselves away from the field, you’ve got to do something to catch up to them,” said Day.

Lowry, bouncing back from a missed cut in the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow last week, turned in level par before lighting a fuse that ignited his play on the homeward stretch.

Lowry’s run of birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie from the 10th was sensational and far removed from the frustration he endured in his final practice round on Wednesday. The Offalyman was so at odds with his game and his swing that it took some calming words on the phone in “an emergency call” with his coach Neil Manchip and a piece of live advice from Graeme McDowell to rectify matters.

Of that “meltdown,” Lowry recounted: “I was losing the head (in practice). I was like almost thinking, ‘what’s the point being here?’, because I felt like I was playing poorly and I was struggling on the greens.”

He added: “I’m very much a confidence player, highs and lows are a bit too much at times. But, yeah, when I get it going I’m normally quite good. Sometimes I can get very hard on myself and beat myself up. So, it’s just trying to get somewhere in between.”

A word in the ear from McDowell – who was playing the practice round with him – provided a light bulb moment. “I got a little tip from G-Mac (in practice) and it seemed to help me. Hopefully I can carry that forward and do all the right things come the weekend. I was just getting over the ball a little too close and he just told me to move it an inch away from where it was and see how it feels. For some reason, it just felt easier to see my lines.”

There was no evidence of Lowry’s transformation on a front nine that saw him merely treading water with one birdie and a bogey to turn in level par. On the back nine, however, he opened his shoulders, found his targets and, most critically of all, got the putter working as he rolled in birdie putts and, on occasion, par saves to leapfrog through the field.

On the 10th, Lowry rolled in a 35-footer for birdie that gave him a pep in his step. From there, he moved into a zone. He eagled the 11th, rolled in a five-footer for birdie on the 12th and another from six feet on the 13th.

On the Par 5 16th, Lowry putted from off the front of the green for a tap-in birdie and, after failing to convert a birdie chance from 10 feet on the famed island hole, where he’d hit “a hard sand wedge from 124 yards” off the tee, he then ripped a 332 yards drive down the 18th and put his sand wedge approach to 15 feet and sank the birdie putt to finish in style.

On being told he was the first player to shoot 29 on the back nine, Lowry remarked: “It’s probably as good a golf course as we play all year. It’s a proper test of golf. And to go out and do it on that nine was nice.”

His score was all the more remarkable for the low expectations he carried into the tournament, missing the cut at Quail Hollow and struggling in practice on Wednesday.

“I kind of was coming out thinking, ‘if I can just get four rounds in here it will be a big help for (the Irish Open) next week. So, I’m on my way to getting four rounds in anyhow . . . next week’s a massive week for me. This week is big as well, but I’d love nothing more than to go back next week and win a tournament.”

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Rory Suffers Cold Putter at Players

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Rory McIlroy admitted he needs a "pretty special" final round at TPC Sawgrass if he is to contend for a maiden Players Championship title on Sunday.

The world No 1 continued to delight from tee to green, but he struggled to contain his frustration after again failing to convert a number of excellent birdie chances as he carded a two-under 70 to close on six under.

McIlroy made a confident start with a birdie at the second, but his problems scoring on the front nine over the Stadium Course continued as he bogeyed the fifth and eighth and then whiffed a pitch at the long ninth.

Left of the green in two, McIlroy's lob wedge slid straight under the ball in the lush rough, but he composed himself before playing a sublime fourth to within three feet to save his par.

He got one shot back with a four at the 11th, and he rolled in a tricky downhill putt for birdie at 13 before two-putting from 15 feet for another at 16.

McIlroy had a chance to get to seven under following an excellent drive and approach to within 10 feet at the last, but the opportunity slid past and left him to reflect on what might have been.

"Tee to green it's been really good, I've given myself a lot of chances and really could not convert much," McIlroy told Sarah Stirk at the Sky Cart on Sky Sports4.

"I've struggled to read the greens all week and just don't quite have it on the greens like I did last week (when he won the WGC-Cadillac Match Play).

"I've left myself in a position where I am going to need something pretty special tomorrow to have a chance; a 64 or 65 to get somewhere around 13 or 14 under. I think that would go very close."

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Lowry Misses Cut at Sawgrass

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Rory McIlroy looked assured of scoring a points victory over newest rival Jordan Spieth on the second day of the lucrative Players Championship at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida.

McIlroy headed into the back nine on the TPC Sawgrass course remaining at his round two starting score of three under par while the World No. 2 ranked Spieth stayed at three over also heading to his inward half.

McIlroy struggled early on with five opening pars before having to play a shot off a bitumen cart path right at the sixth in taking bogey before landing a super 76-yard wedge shot to just two feet for birdie at the ninth.

But while McIlroy was fighting hard to keep sight of clubhouse leading American Kevin Na, who shot a 69 to move two strokes clear at eight under par, former double winning Players champion Tiger Woods left a volunteer with a deep bruise on his leg.

Woods again had his caddy working over-time and calling distances from parts of the course not on the yardage book in posting a one under par 71 to move to back to even par for the $US 10m event.

The 14-time Major winning Woods hit the middle-aged volunteer with a wild drive down the right side of the 11th hole or the second of his round but in the process of hitting the volunteer it stopped the ball going deep into trees, and with Woods remarkably grabbing the first of six birdies but also posting in his round five bogeys.

Woods last regular PGA Tour win won on the Ponte Vedra Beach course two years ago and he’s not ruled winning again this week.

“My expectations at the start of the week remain still the same and I feel like I am playing well enough to get myself up there, but then anyone who makes the cut this week has a chance of winning,” said Woods.

“But I am just not capitalising on my opportunities and I need to start doing that over the weekend.

“I feel my golf is finally at a point where I can play tournament golf on a consistent basis but then I have worked my butt off to change it, and I’m pretty proud of that, to be able to show up at Augusta and do what I did, and now I’ve just got to keep building from there.”

Graeme McDowell signed for a second round 70 and a share of 46th place.

Padraig Harrington ended his two days on the cutline and his round of 73 on Friday just enough to ensure a weekend stay in Ponte Vedra. Good news for the Dubliner who is chasing a top-10 so he can qualify for next month’s US Open.

Shane Lowry missed the cut and will return home with just a pair of commemorative 2015 Players cuff-links, and his gift as a Players first-timer, having slipped to four over par after a second round 74.

Spaniard Sergio Garcia posted 32 putts in his round of 72 to remain at three under par but then as he headed to the clubhouse was heard to remark: “Is there a garbage bin around here?”

Garcia then snapped his putter over his knee and binned the club with three spectators sharing the broken putter and its head cover.

Five-time Major winning Phil Mickelson was a certain Sawgrass casualty posting scores of 73 and 76 to easily miss the cut with a shock five over par total.

Mickelson won the Players in 2007 but with his second round a mix of just three birdies but also two bogeys, a double bogey and a ninth hole triple bogey after his sprayed his second shot deep into the water guarding the green.

“It’s a tough course and I was thinking to myself as I was walking around today, I can’t believe I’ve actually won here,” he said smiling.

Dustin Johnson has not yet ruled out contesting the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open later his month at Royal County Down.

Johnson was a member of the 2007 winning USA Walker Cup team on the course laid out in the shadow of the Mourne Mountains. And after seeing a 63-yard wedge lip-out for eagle at the last in a second straight round of 72 the big-hitting American confirmed he is still in dialogue with McIlroy and joining winning Walker Cup team-mate Rickie Fowler.

“I’m still not sure if I will play the Irish Open and it’s still up in the air, and as much as I would like to return to Royal County Down, I’m still balancing my schedule over here,” said Johnson.

“I would very much like to go and I have been talking to Rory about it.”

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McIlroy Misses Sawgrass Cut

World number one Rory McIlroy suffered more Sawgrass misery as he crashed out of the Players Championship in Florida.

McIlroy missed the halfway cut for the third time in three visits after a second round of 76 left him on four over.

"There's something about this course I can't quite get to grips with," said Mcllroy. "It's disappointing."

Matt Kuchar, Zach Johnson and Kevin Na are at the top of the leaderboard on eight under.

Luke Donald improved on his opening round of 72 with a second round of 69 to move to three under - the same mark as Westwood but five shots behind the joint leaders.

Donald, who started on the 10th hole, eagled the 16th and second, first hitting a five-iron to six feet and then making a 20-footer, but then undid some of his good work before a closing birdie on the ninth.

"It could have been a special round," he said. "I threw in a couple of bad swings, but 69 is not a bad score.

"I am quietly optimistic. I think this course is only going to get tougher and eight or nine under could be a good score come Sunday."

Westwood said: "I didn't play as well as yesterday, but I'm shot one better off - that's golf.

"I'm playing all right. I like this course and it suits me.

"I suppose three under is in touch. Hopefully it will firm up and the greens will get quicker."

First round leaders Martin Laird and Ian Poulter both slipped down the leaderboard.

The Scot was in good form until the final three holes, but then found the water with his second shot to the long 16th and then hit a poor tee shot on the short 17th to find the same lake.

Those errors cost him a bogey six and a double bogey five, and his misery was complete when he left a chip well short on the last and bogeyed again to drop from 10 under to six under - two behind the leaders.

"That's what this course will do to you," he said. "I got a bit greedy with a four iron to the 16th - it was a stupid shot - and was between clubs at the 17th.

"A nine iron was too much and a wedge not enough, but I didn't hit it real solid and the wind got it. It was a bad shot.

"But I'm still well in it. I'd have taken my position before the start."

Poulter is on three under after a 76.

McIlroy's record at Sawgrass

2011: Did not play

2010: Missed cut (+1)

2009: Missed cut (+7)

Harrington Opens Players with 69

Pádraig Harrington was four shots off the clubhouse lead after his first round of the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday. The Dubliner shot a three-under-par 69 to trail early leader Blake Adams by three, before England’s Ian Poulter signed for a 65 after five birdies on the back nine.

The Englishman was two under at the turn thanks to three birdies and a bogey, but three consecutive birdies from 10 and two more at 16 and 17 ensured he led the way this evening.

The 36-year-old from Adams, from Georgia, who has yet to win on the PGA Tour, fired five consecutive birdies prior to the turn before a bogey on the 10th and further birdies at 12 and 15.

South Korean-born American Kevin Na, who started on the backnine, was a stroke back at five-under after a 67, despite a double-bogey on the first hole, his 10th.

Former world number one Tiger Woods was two-over through 17 holes after mixing five bogeys with three birdies.

Harrington birdied three of the four par-fives and also picked up shots at the par-three third and 13th. There were bogeys at six and eight, however, meaning the three-time major winner had to settle for a 69.

Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy were due out in the evening.

The Players Championship Live Scoring

Rory Relishes Sawgrass Return

Rory McIlroy starts his third spell as world number one by returning to a tournament he opted to snub 12 months ago.

The Northern Irishman caused a major stir when he turned his back on the Players Championship last year having missed the halfway cut on his previous two visits to TPC Sawgrass.

The reigning US Open champion now admits he regrets making the decision to skip the event which - with a total purse of $5.8 million - is the richest in world golf.

"Looking back it wasn't one of my brightest moments," said the 23-year-old on Tuesday after arriving in Florida.

He once said: "I don't like the golf course for a start. I find it very awkward off the tee. You're hitting across fairways all the time.

"It's personal preference - some guys love Sawgrass and some guys don't like it so much."

Now the Northern Irishman declares himself "glad to be back", insisting: "For me it's a very big tournament and it's a tournament that I'd love to win one day."

He is hoping to go one better than last week, when he lost a play-off to Rickie Fowler at the Wells Fargo Championship.

"It gave me a bit of confidence for my first week back after a little (three-week) break," he said. "It was good to get into the play-off, but I would love to have that second shot back."

After Fowler had hit his approach to four feet on the first extra hole, McIlroy pushed his more than 20 feet wide and par was not good enough.

"I was in between clubs and went with the wedge instead of the sand wedge. Looking back on it - hindsight is a great thing - I didn't really have anything to lose with Rickie being in there close."

Few would argue with McIlroy being top of the rankings again given that he has had only two finishes outside the top-five in 15 starts since last August, but he still finds himself baffled by the system.

"If you go onto the website there's a page on it where it explains," he told one reporter. "I still don't understand it, but I don't think many other people do either. I think it's a good indication."

Pressed on what goes into becoming number one he said: "Wins, consistency, majors and scoring average - I think I'm number one in that as well!"

The US Open champion has replaced his five-wood with a two-iron to try to and guarantee more accuracy off the tee at Sawgrass this year.

"I'll hit it a lot off the tee just to try and keep it in play. I don't mind sacrificing distance as long as you're hitting from the fairways here.

"Hitting three-woods on some of these holes it still goes a little too far. I don't mind going into a green with a seven-iron instead of a nine-iron."