Frustrating finish leaves Lowry ten back at US Open
Shane Lowry plays a shot on the first hole during the first round of the 2023 U.S. Open at The Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif. on Thursday, June 15, 2023. (James Gilbert/USGA)
Shane Lowry was frustrated to bogey his last two holes and find himself 10 shots adrift of record-setting duo Rickie Fowler and Xander Schauffele in the US Open at a benign Los Angeles Country Club.
The Offaly man battled all day and got caught by the sting in the tail at the stunning Beverly Hills track and opened with a two-over 72 as Fowler and Schauffele equalled the lowest round in Major Championship history and set a US Open record with sensational eight-under 62s.
Lowry looked set to pass paper one of golf’s toughest examination with flying colours when he holed out beautifully on the greens for 16 holes.
But some missed chances in the middle of his back nine followed by two closing bogeys for a 72 that left him tied for 79th with West Waterford’s Séamus Power as amateur Matt McClean shot 73.
“I had the ball under control for most of the day and 17 and 18 sting a little bit,” said Lowry, who vowed to keep on fighting. “It’s the first round obviously, and Rickie is out there shooting the lights out, but it’s not that easy.
“I still imagine it’s going to get tougher as the week goes on and I’ve by no means played my way out of the tournament or anything. I’ll get out there tomorrow afternoon and keep doing what I’ve been doing.
“I was driving the ball great today. I put myself in position, lipped out a few times and hit some good putts that could have gone in and it would have been a different day.
“But it’s just frustrating because I feel like that’s how the year has been going. I’ve not been playing bad golf but I shoot 72 today and it’s just a bit frustrating.”
With the early starters taking advantage of receptive conditions and a sprinkling of light rain over the early holes, the Offaly man made three birdies and three bogeys on the front nine.
But he was left to rue missed chances from around 12 feet at the 14th and 15th and despite making a 17-footer for par at the 16th, he three-putted from nearly 70 feet from the apron at the 17th and then had to make a six-footer for bogey at the last after his approach got snaffled up by deep greenside rough.
‘The couple of bogeys that I made were pretty sloppy and then going into the back nine I get myself quite a few chances,” he said.
“I suppose 14 and 15 were big; if you hole one or two of those, then all of a sudden you’re playing the last three holes with a bit of a spring in your step.
“But then you miss the two of those and then you’re going into last three holes and you know they are going to be difficult. So it’s a small margins in this game and I just have to keep fighting on and I will do that.
“It’s not the end of the world. I think this is easiest we’re going to see the golf course all week. So it would have been nice to go to a better score than that. But it is what it is. I’m sure I’ll deal with whatever I get tomorrow afternoon and give it a go.”
His round looked pedestrian by comparison with former world No 4 Fowler, who continued his gradual return to form by matching the 62 South Africa’s Branden Grace shot in the third round of the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.
Fowler made 10 birdies to lead by five shots from Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau and Si Woo Kim, before being joined in the lead by Schauffele, who went bogey-free.
Fowler, who revealed this week he is considering becoming an investor in Leeds United with Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, has been slowly battling his way back to form after falling to 185th in the world in September last year.
Since parting ways with coach John Tillery last September and returning to work with Butch Harmon, the five-time PGA Tour winner and former Players Championship winner has clawed his way back into the world’s top 50.
After finishing tied sixth in the Fortinet Championship and tied second in the Zozo Championship at the end of 2022, he’s added another four top-10s this year to move up to 45th in the world He made Los Angeles Country Club look almost defenceless at times as he covered the back nine in three-under 32.
The Californian (34) then birdied the first three holes coming home and picked up further shots at the sixth and eighth before Schauffele matched him with birdies at the 10th, 12th, 14th, first, second, fifth, seventh and eighth.
Power bogeyed the par-five first after driving into the fairway bunker on the left but after birdies at the eighth and 10th got him into the red, he bogeyed the 12th, 14th and 18th.
