Lowry and McIlroy lurking at Bay Hill

Shane Lowry speaks to the media after his first round at Bay Hill

Shane Lowry fired a brilliant 69 and Rory McIlroy a battling 70 to take advantage of easier afternoon conditions and keep leader Wyndham Clark in their sights in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at a demanding Bay Hill.

Former US Open champion Clark birdied the last to card a five-under-par 67 to lead by two shots from a four-man group featuring Lowry, US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Canadian Corey Conners.

Playing together in the marquee group in the afternoon, the Irish pals tried hard not to get “too comfortable” together and while they had their struggles in major-like conditions, there was more than enough quality in their play to believe that they will be a factor in The Players next week as the countdown to the Masters begins.  

“I turned on the TV and watched some golf this morning and it didn't look much fun out there,” Lowry said of the 25 mph crosswinds, deep rough and firm greens that made Bay Hill a fearsome test, especially for the early starters.  

“I wasn't particularly looking forward to my round, but we got, I think we got favourable conditions.  

“Even though it wasn't easy, I felt like did I a good job of making my way around the golf course. I was pretty happy with my result.”

According to statistician Justin Ray, Lowry arrived in Bay Hill with the lowest scoring average record on the Florida swing for 25 years.

He showed why as he beautifully plotted his way around a course where he had four missed cuts and a tie for 67th in five appearances before finishing third behind Scottie Scheffler and runner-up Clark last year.

He got up and down for pars at the first and fifth, then laid up at the par-five sixth before getting up and down again from 84 yards for birdie thanks to a wedge to 15 feet.

He did well just to bogey the 10th, rolling in an eight footer after putting off the green from long range and then overhitting his return putt.

Unbowed, he hit another 83 yard wedge to three feet at the 12th to get into the red, then rifled a 144-yard approach to five feet at the 13th.

As McIlroy relinquished the lead at the 14th, Lowry made another clutch par save from eight feet at the 15th before he spectacularly eagled the 16th from seven feet.

He found deep rough at the last, however, and like McIlroy, made bogey after a poor drive.

“I’ve been tinkering a little bit with drivers,” Lowry revealed. “I think there's something wrong with the driver I was using last week for a few days. I used something different on Sunday and I used something different again today.  

“So I don't have a hundred percent trust in that yet, but I did hit some really nice drives there towards the end, apart from 18.

“I'm pretty happy with what I have in the bag, I just need to be able to stand up on holes like 18 and trust myself to start it down the left and commit to that shot.

"As the week goes on hopefully I'll do that and, yeah, you never know where it will leave me.”

McIlroy also had his struggles from the tee, hitting just six fairways, but he was still pleased to end the day inside the top 10.

“Yeah, good start,” said McIlroy, who bogeyed the first hole but replied with birdie fours at the fourth and sixth to get into red.

“I think the guys that teed off a little later got a little bit of a reprieve.  

“It was still breezy, but not quite as tough as the guys got it this morning. Yeah, couple under was a good start.”

While he three-putted the eighth from 74 feet for bogey, he birdie three of the next four holes to tie for the lead, then  three-putted the 14th from 19 feet for bogey, lipping out from three feet for par.

He responded impressively, getting up and down from sand again for par at the 15th before two putting from long range for birdie at the 16th only to miss his eighth fairway of the day at the last and eventually miss a 10 footer for par.

He was happy to play alongside Lowry but also wary of not getting too relaxed.

“Yeah, I think we both have to make a conscious effort to not make it too comfortable as well,” he said.

“If you're too relaxed, that's not a good thing either.  

“So we try to treat it as if it's just any other round. I certainly talk to him more than I talk to some other guys out there, but you still have to try to concentrate, and especially on a day like today when it was so tough.”

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler battled to a 70 while reigning US PGA and Open champion Xander Schauffele shot 77 in his first start after eight week off with a rib injury.

“Yeah, it was, you know, got my ass kicked, yeah,”Schauffele said. “It's a tough place to come back to, not going to lie.”