Amgen Irish Open: Shane Lowry lifts course record to top leaderboard as Rory McIlroy leaves feeling ‘disappointed’

Shane Lowry broke the course record to top the leaderboard on home soil at the Amgen Irish Open, with Rory McIlroy left feeling “disappointed” with his results.

Lowry mixed nine birdies with a lone bogey during a brilliant 62-under 62 at Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, lifting him to 11 under and three strokes ahead of the rest of the morning’s field.

The former Open champion’s closest challenge on his side of the field came from Haotong Li and Jacob Skov Olesen, who shot rounds of 63 and 64 respectively to move to eight under, with Tom McKibbin among those six strokes back.

Patrick Reed begins the weekend at four under, Jon Rahm and Robert McIntyre are another shot back and Rory McIlroy is nine shots back at half-length after struggling on the greens for the second straight time with a 69.

First-round leader Joaquin Niemann and England international Tyrrell Hutton were the last to start.

How Lowry pushed forward on home soil

Lowry, who won the tournament in 2009 as a 22-year-old amateur, played in the group behind McIlroy and saw the crowd around him grow after a string of three consecutive birdies in the third.

He made a long putt on the seventh hole and gained extra putts on the next two holes to reach the turn at the 30th hole, then added back-to-back birdies on the 11th to briefly leave Lowry at par 59.

Lowry’s hopes of a sub-60 round were dealt a blow by a three-putt bogey from 20 feet on the 13th, although he bounced back with a birdie on the 15th to finish his record-breaking round with three straight pars.

“It was a lot of fun,” Lowry said. “I got a good start and then just kept going. I felt great there. Just kept my foot on the gas and tried to keep hitting good shots and keep hitting shots.”

What McIlroy needs to do after expressing ‘disappointment’

McIlroy birdied the second green but failed to take advantage of many chances on his front nine, with the world number two unable to get up and down from the sand and missing a putt from close range to save par at the seventh.

The Masters champion responded with a sensational eagle putt on the par-five eighth, shooting from close, only to make a sloppy bogey on the 11th and negate a long birdie on the 17th with a disappointing three-putt in the final spot.

“Disappointing,” was how McIlroy assessed his second round. “I just didn’t have it on the greens. I really had a hard time reading them. It’s hard when you have trouble reading them.

“It’s been a tough last two days on the greens, but in terms of tee to green I’m actually pretty happy with how things have gone otherwise. “I just have to try and get in a few more holes over the weekend.”

McIntyre shot 65 to stay three under, but five-time major champion Koepka, who had a 66 after a 75-point opening round, was in danger of missing the cut by one.

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