Shane Lowry bowed his head, leaning on his wedge, as if the pain of watching the errant shot would be too much to bear. His approach to the ninth, his final hole, drifted right on the wind before plunging into the bunker.
It proved a preamble to what transpired to be a bogey five, and an opening round of one-under-par 71 in the squally, morning rain at The K Club. His golf was of a quality that wouldn’t have been flattered by a round in the late 60s.
Lowry refused to wallow in self pity. “I hit a lot of good iron shots especially on my back nine, the front nine (in terms of the layout). If anything my second shot on nine was almost too easy, 150 yards straight down wind, just a little wedge. I hit about an inch behind it.
“The ball was above my feet and that part of the fairway was very soggy. I caught it quite heavy. These things happen. You hit shots like that. It’s not the end of the world. If anything I should have been able to get it up and down because it was a fairly straightforward bunker shot.
“I had a good up and down for a five. I would have been really disappointed if I was sitting there on level par. I am pretty happy with the way the day went. I feel I should be about two or three (shots) better.
“They don’t give out trophies on Thursday. I’m in the tournament; the scoring is not too hectic out there. I’m looking forward to the next few days.”
It was a fair summation. The round was an eclectic mix of birdie and bogeys, two of each as he negotiated a passage from the 10th to the 18th, his front nine. Birdies at the first, fourth and the sixth were offset by a bogey at the third and that dropped shot at the last to leave him a couple of shots behind the early leaders, Germany's Martin Kaymer and former Irish Open champion Ross Fisher.
The early starters had to brave the worst of the weather in terms of the heavy rain but a freshening wind throughout the morning was going to pose a different test for those that began after midday including the tournament favourite Rory McIlroy.
Lowry took solace from a familiar environment and the form he drew down from last weekend’s performance at Sawgrass. “When I get on the tee (here) I hardly even have to ask Dermo for a line on some holes. I know the course so I can just stand up and play my own game, like I’m here playing with the lads: pick the driver and hit it.
“I didn’t have the best of weekends (at Sawgrass) but if you take away my first four holes on the Saturday, it wouldn’t have been a bad weekend. That’s the way I have to look at it; the glass half full, take the positives. I don’t see anyone shooting really low out there. It’s quite tricky; it’s windy. The greens are quite tough to hole putts on. “
Lowry didn’t leave The K Club following Wednesday’s Pro-Am until 8.0pm and was back at the venue to tee it up 10 hours later. He admitted: “When you get a late draw (in the Pro-Am) you’re not supposed to get an early tee-time. It’s almost an unwritten rule. I only left the golf course at 8.0pm last night. I was back here about 10 hours later. It’s something that you deal with; I do it week in, week out.”
Former Ryder Cup winning captain Paul McGinley produced a very creditable level-par 72, Peter Lawrie a 73 but from an Irish perspective others struggled in the morning including Pádraig Harrington who signed for a 76, undone by a couple of big numbers after a birdie at his opening hole, the 10th.
