Irish Open:On an extraordinary day of low scoring amateur Shane Lowry showed all the composure of a seasoned professional to fire a second round 62 to open up a two shot lead at the halfway stage of the 3 Irish Open in Baltray, where Graeme McDowell went one better and played his way back into contention with a sensational course record 61.
McDowell went from near last in the field after his opening 77 to within six shots of the lead after a near flawless round over the Co Louth links. From the outset the 29-year-old set about his business to be a staggering seven-under for his first six holes which included an eagle at the third.
When a further birdie came at the eighth to turn in 29 strokes the thought of shooting an elusive 59 was very much on the cards. At this point the Portrush pro may have set the fireworks alight but at two-under he was still outside the projected cut mark.
A dose of reality came with his only bogey of the day at the 12th where he pushed his approach and failed to get up and down. The 59 was gone. It was time to get down to business and simply try to be around for the weekend.
McDowell brushed off the bogey and proceeded to birdie four of the last five holes as one putt after another dropped as he signed for that magical 61. What a difference a day makes.
“Bizarrely, I knew I didn’t play that badly for yesterday’s 77 but it meant I had to go out today with all guns blazing and firing at all the pins all day,” explained McDowell, who equalled the low round of the season on the European Tour.
“The pins were there for the taking and I got off to a flier. Funny, the nerves started to kick in around the ninth. All sorts of things start going through your head – like the number 59.
“I was really pleased the way I bounced back and finished the round after that bogey at 12. After the possibility of 59 was gone the objective was to simply make the cut.
“That was a special day out there, I think that’s the lowest round I’ve ever shot, certainly the best of my career. The crowds really got behind us out there.”
For Lowry his round was just as impressive considering this is the 22-year-old’s European Tour debut. The Esker Hills player followed up yesterday’s 67 with a front nine of 31 – four birdies and an eagle at the sixth. From there two birdies and one dropped shot at the 11th followed by three more birdies in his last five holes left Lowry top of the pile on 15-under par.
“It’s like a dream really — when do I wake up?” said Lowry, who is 16th in the amateur world rankings. “This is as good as I can ask for and it’s hard not to think about winning now, but I’m just going to go out and play as best I can.”
Lowry, a plus-five handicapper, becomes only the second amateur to lead a European Tour event at the halfway stage and today's round matched the lowest round ever achieved by an amateur - Germany's Sven Struver 20 years ago. The Irish international two ahead of Wales’ Jamie Donaldon and England’s Robert Rock, who both shot 65’s, while Paul Lawrie was along in fourth on 12-under.
Former British Open champion Lawrie shot a second successive 66 which included a hole-in-one at the 196-yard par-three 17th which earned him an added bonus of an Audi A5 Cabriolet.
McDowell moved up 114 places to be tied 36th, which put him one shot behind Rory McIlroy, who despite leaving a lot of putts out on the course, signed for a 67 to be seven-under at the halfway stage.
Of the 22 Irish players who started out the week, only seven were in line to make it into the weekend. Darren Clarke (68), Paul McGinley (68) and Gary Murphy (69) were all five-under, while Damien McGrane (71) was a shot further back.
There was disappointment for Pádraig Harrington, who missed the cut despite a 68 that moved the three-time major winner to three-under. However, such was the low scoring in the afternoon the projected cut moved to four-under.
“I was happy with today’s round but the putts didn’t drop and there were opportunities to make birdies on the par fives,” said Harrington after his round, who is still struggling to iron out the kinks in his swing.
“I’m still in between, with making changes to my set up and also equipment changes. Not that long ago I was struggling to keep a six degree driver down, now I’m struggling to hit a nine degree driver high enough.
“The more rounds I play the better chance I have because I have been of the boil in recent months but I feel I’m ready to start playing well again.
Earlier in the day Michael Hoey and Italian Francesco Molinari were both disqualified. Hoey disqualified himself after discovering that he had been carrying a 15th club - one too many - in his bag. He was two-under at the time.
This year’s Portuguese Open champion came across it during his second round, but instead of merely having to add penalty strokes he knew he could not continue because he had signed for a wrong first-round score.
“I just realised before I was about to hit a shot that underneath all of the wet gear in my bag was an extra club,” said Hoey.
“I always have a rescue club and two-iron with me every week, but I just presumed my caddie knew that I wouldn’t be taking the rescue because of this course.
“It wasn’t taken out - it’s partly my fault, partly his I would say. We didn’t even discuss it. It’s so stupid and I can’t believe it because I was playing well and trying to get moving up the leaderboard.”
The Italian, who fired a course record 63 yesterday to lead by one overnight, signed for the wrong score on two holes of his second round. His error came when he wrongly marked a six at the 12th and a four at the 13th when the two scores should have been the other way around.
Completed Irish scores and totals:
(Par 72; 22 Irish players in total)
-15Shane Lowry* 67, 62
-7Rory McIlroy 69, 68
-6Graeme McDowell 77, 61
-5Paul McGinley 71, 68, Darren Clarke 71, 68, Gary Murphy 70, 69
-4Damien McGrane 69, 71
Missed the cut (-4)
-3Pádraig Harrington 73, 68
-2Des Smyth 72, 70
-1Peter Lawrie 72, 71, Jonathan Caldwell 76, 67
LEoin Arthurs* 76, 68, Eamonn Brady 71, 73
+1Gareth Maybin 73, 72, Noel Fox 72, 73
+2Barrie Trainor 73, 73
+3Michael McGeady 75, 72, Philip Walton 74, 73
+4Simon Thornton 76, 72
+9Damian Mooney 76, 77
+10John Dwyer 77, 77
(* denotes amateur/ Michael Hoey disqualified for carrying 15 clubs in his bag)
