Lowry and Harrington dig deep in 30 mph Abu Dhabi winds; Clarke T3 in Hawaii
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry was "absolutely thrilled" to overcome winds gusting to 30 mph and remain in contention for his first win for two and a half years in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Without a win since the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush, the Offaly ace (34) chiselled out a level par 72 to go into the weekend tied for fourth in the clubhouse at Yas Links, just one stroke behind clubhouse leaders Viktor Hovland of Norway and Ryder Cup teammate, Ian Poulter.
"I played okay," Lowry said. "I feel like I didn't really have my A Game in the wind today that I normally would. I hit some loose shots that generally would be better, but it was just so tough out there, so tough, every part of it.
"Putting was probably the hardest thing, but yeah, I'm absolutely thrilled with 72, to be honest. First tournament of the year, I was happy with five-under yesterday and I'm happy with level par today, and hopefully it doesn't get up too much and the boys stay out there this morning and I'll be there going into the weekend."
Starting on the back nine, Lowry knocked in a 20 footer for his first birdie of the day at the 12th.
He would hand that shot back at the 16th, then three-putt the third from nearly 70 feet. But while another shot went at the fifth as the course played four shots harder than on day one, he made back to back birdies at the next two holes, rattling in a 20 footer at the 468-yard sixth before splashing out to four feet and holing the putt at the par-five seventh.
He then rounded off a demanding morning by slotting home an 11 footer for a hard-fought par at the ninth.
"I don't love it," Lowry said of his assumed love of tough, windy conditions. "I'd prefer it was calm, but I know how to play in those conditions.
"I knew going out this morning that it would be up. I knew that go out and just play my game and do my thing. Because it's in the wind, I think about it a lot less, and I just hit the shots, and I just hit the shots I see.
"That's what makes me so good in the wind, I think. I just kind of play with a lot of feel. Yeah, it worked. I was decent today, and hopefully, it's not going to be as windy the weekend, but it will still be blustery. Yeah, we'll see."
Lowry added: “The wind is probably blowing 30-mile-an-hour or something like that. The hardest thing is putts. You're seeing one thing on the greens but it's doing something else. Me and Poults had a putt on our eighth hole, the 17th, and no wind, it's a foot and a half right-to-left, and it moved a foot and a half left-to-right.
It's hard to judge.
“I said to Poults coming down the last hole, I feel like at the end of the season I would have done better today. I feel like I hit a few sloppy shots in the windy wouldn't normally hit. A little bit of rust and stuff like that, no doubt. But I'm very happy where I am on the leaderboard and looking forward to the weekend.
Like I missed the cut in this tournament the last two years and it's not a nice way to start the year. Starting the year going into the weekend is pretty nice and hopefully, I can take it home from there.”
As overnight leader Scott Jamieson headed out with the afternoon starters on nine-under with Rory McIlroy on level par, Hovland carded a two-over 74 to find himself tied for the clubhouse lead on six-under with Poulter, who shot 72.
Pádraig Harrington shot a one-under 71 — one of the best rounds of the morning — and will make the cut with ease on level par.
The two-time Open champion had a torrid time on the greens on Thursday.
But he was far better today, and while he followed two opening birdies with a double-bogey six following a three-putt at the 12th, he birdied the 17th and seventh before handing back a shot at the eighth, finishing his day inside the top 40.
Clandeboye's Jonathan Caldwell will miss the cut on 11-over after adding a 78 to an opening 77.
On the PGA Tour Champions, defending champion Darren Clarke (53) opened with a six-under par 66 in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai to lie just two shots behind leader Ernie Els.
The South African fired an eight-under 64 to lead by a shot from former world No 1 Vijay Singh with Clarke tied for third with Stephen Ames, Steven Alker, Bernhard Langer and Retief Goosen.