Lowry goes low at Torrey North to boost Pebble Beach hopes
Shane Lowry birdied six of his last eight holes to open with a super 66 in the Farmers Insurance Open and boost his chances of qualifying for next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The Offaly man failed to land one of four sponsor’s exemptions (Webb Simpson, Peter Malinati, Maverick McNealy and Adam Scott) for Pebble Beach, which is now a $20 million, no-cut signature event with the field reduced from 156 to 80.
Lowry is outside the world‘s top 30 who are also exempt and unlike Rory McIlroy and Seamus Power, he failed to qualify via the top 50 in the last season’s FedExCup standings.
He also missed the cut in The American Express last week and likely needs a top-five finish at Torrey Pines this week to make the Aon 5 - the top five FedExCup points winners, not already exempt, from a mini points list covering the three events before Pebble Beach.
Pleased with his first round at Torrey Pines for five years, Lowry said: “Yeah, it's pretty good. I got off to a nice start and then made a couple of sloppy bogeys around the turn and managed to make a couple of putts towards the end.
“I just kept telling myself I was playing good golf and hit some nice shots and got rewarded towards the end.”
On day when Power had to birdie the 18th to open with a two-over 74 on the tougher South Course, Lowry knew he had to go low on the North.
“I haven't been here since 2018 and historically you need to make your score on the North Course and then hang in a little bit in the South Course and take your chances when you get them,” he explained after a homeward nine of 31.
“I didn't know what I was going to play like I just went out there to play the golf course there was in front of me and hit as good a shots as I could and thankfully that was good enough.”
As for Thursday’s second round on the South, he said: “Doesn't matter what I shot today. Going out there tomorrow, I’m just trying to shoot as good a score as I can. You give everything you can and if it's good, that's great. If not, you just move on.”
His six-under 66 on the easier North Course left him tied for fourth, just two shots behind Kevin Yu, whose 64 at the same venue gave him a one shot lead over Patrick Cantlay and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune.
Starting on the 10th, Lowry opened with a birdie four then sandwiched birdies at the 16th and 17th between bogeys at the 15th and 18th.
He slipped back to level with another bogey at the first but finished like a train with birdies at the second, third, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth.
“Yeah, you know, the west coast, I love the west coast of America, I love coming over here and playing,” Lowry added. “This has always been one of my favourite stops.
“Just the way my career's gone the last few years, I started my season in Europe. Obviously this year I made the decision to come over here, play a little bit on the west coast, try and make some much needed FedExCup points because it's going to be a quick season this year.
“Didn't go to plan last week, but I felt like I played very good golf most of the week. I went out there and continued on today and managed to roll a few putts in, I was pretty happy with myself.”
As for his last eight holes, he said: “Yeah, I was kind of not lost, I was just lost in my mind. I was just kind of having a nice time going around, I had a great group.
“Harris English is a great guy and obviously Sepp (Straka) myself and Sepp formed a nice relationship at Ryder Cup last year. So great group there today, so just enjoyed myself out there.
“Made a couple of sloppy bogeys, but after that I felt like I played some lovely golf on the way in, hit some lovely shots and kind of rolled in the putts I needed.”
His highlight of the day was a birdie two at the third.
“It was playing very long today, it was 240-something to the pin I hit a 5-wood to probably five feet,” he said.
As for Power, the West Waterford man had 33 putts as he followed ten straight pars on the South with bogeys at the 11th, 12th and 15th before making a 10 footer for a closing birdie four.
