Lowry shows flashes of vintage form but driver still needs work in wine country
Shane Lowry. Photo by Chris Keane/Getty Images
Shane Lowry showed flickering signs of form ahead of next week’s US Open when he rallied late to open with a four-under 68 in the Safeway Open in California.
The Open champion (33) made a sluggish start at Silverado Resort and Spa North, where smoke and ash from nearby wildfires affected Wednesday’s practice and early morning fog delayed the start yesterday.
His recent form has been as unpredictable as the California climate. But despite struggling from the tee with a new driver, he birdied the 18th to turn in level par, then made a pair of 12 footers at the 12th and 13th before following a miraculous birdie from trees at the eighth with a closing birdie four.
“It wasn't too nice this morning, obviously a bit of a delay,” said Lowry, who hit just six of 14 fairways. “I got off to a bit of a slow start as well, but it was nice to finish like that. I grinded it out well.
“I didn't feel like I played my best and some new equipment in the bag. My irons felt really good but I struggled with the driver, so I'm off to the range now to try to figure that out.
“I put a new shaft in it this week and it feels like it's a little strong for me. So I’ll see what I can do there. Yeah, I'm happy with four-under-playing the way that I was playing.”
The Offaly man was five shots behind early leader Russell Knox, who made an eagle and seven birdies in a nine-under 63 to lead by two strokes from Brendan Steele, winner of the title in 2017 and 2018.
Lowry’s smiling visage indicated that he enjoyed being paired with Steele and left-hander Mickelson, who also struggled from the tee at times ahead of his bid for the career Grand Slam at Winged Foot next week.
.@rooknox 63 in R1 of @SafewayOpen is the event’s lowest opening-round score since @ScottPiercyPGA opened with 62 in 2016. @PGATOUR pic.twitter.com/ThORu3IGdV
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) September 10, 2020
“I think that's just like my resting face because I don't feel like that all the time,” Lowry said. “Look, we had a nice day today. Steely was playing some good golf and Phil is Phil. We had a good time with Phil as always. It was just a nice morning out there and it was a nice place to play golf.
“I’ve played with [Phil] a few times this year and over the years I've got to play with him more and I always say he's one of the guys that I would actually pay to watch because he's just entertaining and you never know what's going to come out of him. So it's great and it's great to be able to play with guys like that.”
West Waterford’s Seamus Power got to one under through 10 holes before dropping four shots in a row from the 12th en route to a three-over 75.
