Shane Lowry of Ireland plays his stroke from the No. 4 tee during Round 2 of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Friday, November 13, 2020.

Shane Lowry produced a gutsy birdie-birdie finish to keep leader Richard Sterne in his sights at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

After missing the cut in last week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, the Open champion needs a decent result this week to reignite his Ryder Cup campaign and he will be relieved to have opened with a two-under 70 after a trying day on the Majlis Course at the Emirates Golf Club.

Just this week taking possession of the Association of Golf Writers’ Trophy for his stellar 2019 campaign, the Clara man birdied the third and eighth to turn in two-under before handing those shots back with unforced errors at the 15th and 16th.

But he bounced back well, pitching to six-feet to set up a birdie at the 17th before rifling a sky-high long iron to 45 feet at the 18th before two-putting for a birdie four.

He ended the day tied for 20th, six strokes behind Richard Sterne, the man he beat to claim the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship two years ago.

The South African (39) made his ninth birdie of the day at the ninth to card an eight-under-par 64 and lead by a shot from big-hitting American Kurt Kitayama with countryman Justin Harding and 2017 champion Sergio Garcia a further shot back on six-under after 66’s.

"It's always good to get off to a good start,” said Sterne, who had wrist surgery in March last year and missed most of the season.

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre shot 67 to share fifth with Paul Casey, Spain’s Adrian Otageui and Belgium’s Thomas Detry, which will please captain Pádraig Harrington, who was three-under with six holes to play but signed for a one-under 71 that left him tied for 37th alongside PGA champion Collin Morikawa, the world number four.

Graeme McDowell played alongside Lowry but he was out of sorts with his irons and his putter, three-putting twice in a 33-putt round as he made his lone birdie of the day at the 18th en route to a four-over 76.

Richard Sterne: I think. I've come close here before so it would be nice to have a chance going into the weekend. I haven't had many chances going into weekends for a long time, so it would be nice to get through tomorrow and place myself well and see how the weekend goes.

“I had a wrist operation in March last year, so I was out basically for the whole of last year. Played the last few events, which I played pretty decently considering I had not played for so long.

“And then last week gave me a lot of confidence. I struggled the first few days and played really nicely on Saturday. But finishing 25th there has given me confidence. I'm just trying to watch my back, so I haven't put much preparation into this week. Just got nine holes in Tuesday yesterday and I didn't even come to the course yesterday. So today, I was pretty happy with the performance.”

Kurt Kitayama: “I haven't played this well in a while, so nice to get a round like this. Just played as many games as I could back home and tried to feel pressure under the gun like in tournament conditions. Pretty much how I tried to stay sharp.

“(The eagle on 17 was) a little into the wind. Hit it just short of the green in the fairway. It was just pretty standard chip up into the grain and I just holed it. It was nice.”

Sergio Garcia: “I felt comfortable out there for sure. I felt like I hit a lot of good shots. Conditions obviously were good, but they were tricky.

“I think that it's a big year, and hopefully I can be in good shape because I want to be a part of a lot of things this year.

“I still love to compete. I love to practice, try to get better and that's what I try to do all the time. So it's nice to see rounds like one today, because it shows that I'm putting some good work in there and just got to keep doing more of that."

Paul Casey: “This is a difficult golf course. The last time I played here was seven years ago. It was difficult then. It's grown some teeth in the last few years, some new tees. Very happy. It's difficult to read the greens and make putts around here. They have always been tricky, a bit of grain in there. Yeah, very happy with that start.

“I feel lucky because golf courses are open in Arizona. Even various other places across the state line, they are not. I feel for everybody in the UK where golf courses are closed right now.

“To be honest I took advantage of it. I spent a lot of time playing. It's maybe something I've not done as much of over the last few years. We are very lucky that we're playing golf and I feel that sort of fortunate place that we're in to play, I feel that I'm going to take advantage of that, while I'm out here, make hay.”

Omega Dubai Desert Classic, Emirates Golf Club (Par 72)

Detailed scores

64 R Sterne (RSA),

65 K Kitayama (USA),

66 J Harding (Rsa), S Garcia (Esp),

67 P Casey (Eng), A Otaegui (Esp), T Detry (Bel), R Macintyre (Sco),

68 R Langasque (Fra), T Fleetwood (Eng), A Arnaus (Esp), K Aphibarnrat (Tha), K Samooja (Fin), R Fisher (Eng), W Ormsby (Aus), M Kaymer (Ger),

69 L Westwood (Eng), S Hend (Aus), J Winther (Den),

70 T Kanaya (Jpn), A Sullivan (Eng), S Sharma (Ind), N Colsaerts (Bel), A Rozner (Fra), M Schwab (Aut), S Jamieson (Sco), L Canter (Eng), B Stone (RSA), M Korhonen (Fin), M Kinhult (Swe), P Larrazábal (Esp), Shane Lowry (Irl), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), J Schaper (RSA), A Levy (Fra), J Lagergren (Swe),

71 S Heisele (Ger), F Zanotti (Par), G Migliozzi (Ita), A Bjork (Swe), J Rose (Eng), C Morikawa (USA), A Wu (Chn), Pádraig Harrington (Irl), S Valimaki (Fin), O Fisher (Eng), N Elvira (Esp), C Wood (Eng), R Ramsay (Sco), T Pieters (Bel), M Kawamura (Jpn), S Crocker (USA), M Wallace (Eng), J Smith (Eng),

72 A Chesters (Eng), K Broberg (Swe), S Brown (Eng), H Li (Chn), R Hojgaard (Den), D Law (Sco), G Coetzee (Rsa), D Langley (Eng), B Hebert (Fra), J Hansen (Den), T Pulkkanen (Fin), S Kjeldsen (Den), V Dubuisson (Fra), D Horsey (Eng), R Karlsson (Swe), D Burmester (RSA), J Suri (USA), V Perez (Fra), J Guerrier (Fra), A Rai (Eng), D Lipsky (USA), C Syme (Sco), J Walters (RSA),

73 E Rousaud (Am) (Esp), C Paisley (Eng), R Cabrera Bello (Esp), R Fox (Nzl), B Wiesberger (Aut), D Drysdale (Sco), D Howell (Eng), Z Lombard (RSA), E Els (RSA), A Johnston (Eng), G Green (Mas),

74 R Paratore (Ita), S Soderberg (Swe), L Herbert (Aus), J Luiten (Ned), G Forrest (Sco), J Catlin (USA), S Gallacher (Sco), T Bjorn (Den), D Willett (Eng), H Stenson (Swe), C Bezuidenhout (RSA), M Jiménez (Esp), M Southgate (Eng), W Nienaber (RSA), E Pepperell (Eng), L Gagli (Ita),

75 C Shinkwin (Eng), J Scrivener (Aus), J Morrison (Eng), N Bertasio (Ita), D Hague (Eng), M Lee (Aus), R Rock (Eng), P Waring (Eng), M Pavon (Fra), A Quiros (Esp),

76 S Al Kurdi (Am) (Jor), I Poulter (Eng), T Hatton (Eng), H Porteous (Rsa), O Wilson (Eng), R McGowan (Eng), G Higgo (RSA), Graeme McDowell (Nir), E Molinari (Ita), M Kieffer (Ger),

77 J Campillo (Esp), G Bhullar (Ind),

78 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), R Mcevoy (Eng),

79 R Jacquelin (Fra), C Knipes (Eng),

82 K El Hali (Mar),

**

Out A Pavan (Ita)