Shane Lowry continued his Wentworth love affair by opening with an impressive five-under 67 to lie just a shot off the lead in the $7m BMW PGA Championship.

With his game firing on all cylinders, the Open champion (33) had just 26 putts in a seven-birdie round to share fourth spot behind Tyrrell Hatton, South Africa's Justin Harding and Spain's Adri Arnaus.

"I feel good at the minute with my iron play, and I haven't been driving it unbelievable over the last while, so I drove it lovely and holed a few putts," said Lowry who made six birdies over his last ten holes. "That's probably the difference between shooting a 67 and the scores over the last while."

Scores

After scrambling for a great par at the third, he birdied the par-five fourth, missed a five-footer for par at the sixth but then fired a delightful approach to 15 feet at the ninth and rolled in the putt.

"That kind of got me going, but I just felt comfortable out there," added Lowry, who has had six top-15 finishes in his last seven starts at Wentworth. "It's a place I feel comfortable. It's a place I love, and I'm happy with the day."

He then got up and down from the front edge of the par-five 12th, cut a 190-yard six-iron to 10 feet at the difficult 13th and rolled in an outrageous 35 footer for a two at the 14th for a hat-trick of birdies.

While he bogeyed the 15th, he made a 15 footer at the 16th then knocked in a 12 footer for another birdie at the 17th.

"I only arrived here Tuesday night, and I couldn't believe how different it was playing this year, long and soft and difficult," Lowry added.

"We were very lucky with our side of the draw today. I think the morning starters had it harder than we did, so I was happy to go out there this afternoon, and we played the last few holes with not much wind, and I took advantage of that."

The early men included Pádraig Harrington, who sandwiched a chip-in eagle at the sixth between bogeys at his first and 16th holes in a 72 that might have been two or three shots better as Graeme McDowell battled back from three over after three holes to shoot 73.

“I drove it well, bar the first hole where I hit it in trouble,“ Harrington said. “But I drove it well after that. I gave myself plenty of good chances after that. Obviously it was tough conditions, blustery and rain but the pins are set up very easy so that toughest part was driving it and I did drive it so maybe I should have got a few more out of the round.

“Two or three under would have been a better reflection on the day considering I drove it well. I was only out of position once really. “

On his eagle at the sixth, he said: “Nice drive, it was pretty tough at that stage. Every though I only had  225 to the front I still had a three wood to the front edge.  It was on the right front fringe and the flag was back right. So I chipped it and chipped it over the slope and chipped it in nicely from the guts of 15-20 yards.”

The Dubliner (49) is pleased with how his game is trending but wonders how much golf he has left to play this year as he does not plan to head to the US any time soon.

“I have come back and my weak points are my strong points at the moment. I am driving well and putting well. So I am waiting for the short game or a few chip shots to be a little tighter from the fact that I am not playing.

“The iron play is not quite there at the moment. I don't quite have the rhythm on it at the moment. It feels like I am swinging my irons on a cold day. There is a lot of hit. I could do with just a little more rhythm on my irons. I am happy with where I am at but I don't know how much more I am going to play this year, which is a pity, because I quite like where I am at and where I am going. “

As for those social media images of him having treatment on his neck and knee following his T9 finish in the Scottish Open last week, he explained that it was red light therapy.

“Straightforward stuff,” he said. “Something I do when I am injured, which is on a weekly basis right now.   My knee is quite bad actually and my neck popped out on Sunday and affected my alignment. If I moved my head, I ended up moving my body, which is a bit annoying.  It really played havoc last Sunday. It is not far off deep heat treatment. That's all it is.“