The Open: Shane Lowry sets early target with opening round 67

Shane Lowry said he was ‘fairly happy’ with a four-under 67 as he set the early scoring target on the opening day of the 148th Open Championship

Shane Lowry was as nervous as he’s been ‘almost ever’ on the first tee of a golf tournament, but he needn’t have worried as he worked that anticipation to his advantage to post a four-under 67 – grabbing the early clubhouse lead at Royal Portrush.

“I was probably as nervous as I’ve been in quite a while on the first tee, almost ever, I’d say,” Lowry said after the first round of the 148th Open.

“I was quite anxious going out there this morning. The wind was up early. But the first few holes played okay, downwind and I got off to a nice solid start. And I was off and running and I was enjoying myself. And I played some good golf.

“Look, I missed a couple of chances coming in. But I got a great break, and good up and down on 16, great break on 17, and managed to make par. I’m fairly happy with 4-under. I think 4-under is a great score on that course and I’ll take it any day.”

For Lowry, the nerves were a product of a bad practice session and the pressure of a major championship being hosted in Ireland, but he was left feeling inspired after a pre tournament pep-talk over coffee at the pub.

“I felt very unconfident on the first tee, I’m not going to lie,” Lowry said.

“It’s the British Open, it’s in Ireland. I’m playing well, I feel like I should come up and do well. Why shouldn’t I feel uneasy? You wouldn’t be human if you weren’t nervous or uneasy about playing in the biggest tournament in the world. 

“I feel like for me I can come here a little more under the radar than the other guys. G-Mac is from here, he grew up here. Rory is an hour down the road and obviously had some great times here. And Darren lives here now. I feel like for me I can kind of be more under the radar than everyone else. But obviously not now.

“I don’t feel like practice went unbelievably well this week. I felt a little bit uncomfortable. Went to coffee yesterday down at the Bushmills Inn and we found a little quiet room, we had a great chat for about 40 minutes. I left that room full of confidence and ready to go. So we just put everything out in the open, everything out on the table, what could happen, what might happen.”

As it happened

Lowry rolled in his first birdie from the back of the green on the par-three third before adding a second birdie on the fourth and another at the ninth to get to 3-under. 

He followed it up with his fourth birdie of the day on 10 to gain the outright lead, and was soon joined by Scotland’s Robert McIntyre before briefly slipping back with his only dropped shot of the day on the 11th. 

Lowry recovered immediately with a bounce-back birdie on the par-five 11th to get to -4, and parred his way in for the best round of the day so far. 

“I thoroughly enjoyed today,” Lowry said. “The crowds are unbelievable and cheered on every tee box, and every green is such a special feeling. I tried to enjoy that as much as I can while I was doing my work and then getting down to business.

“It’s going to be an exciting few days ahead. I hope I can give them something to cheer about on Sunday afternoon.”

Webb Simpson briefly made a charge to get to five-under but he finished with back-to-back bogeys to drop back to -3, and he wasn’t the only one to come undone on the 18th hole: McIntyre and Dylan Frittelli both bogeyed the last to card a pair of 68s, sitting alongside Simpson as one of six players currently in the clubhouse on that number.