Shane Lowry has made a promising start to the DP World Tour Championship as he looks for his first individual win in two seasons after opening with a one-under 71, his lowest first round score at Jumeirah Golf Estates in three starts.
Lowry – a winner alongside Rory McIlroy at the Zurich Classic in the summer – teed off in Dubai after five successive top-13 finishes on the DP World Tour and this is his last roll of the dice as he looks to shake off his ‘Mr Consistency’ tag and claim the victory that has eluded him since the 2022 BMW PGA Championship.
“There has been all year I’m not too worried, I’m OK, I feel comfortable in my game and I want to go out there and give it a go the next couple of days,” Lowry, who trails the early lead by three shots, told Meridian Media’s Denis Kirwan after his round.
“Give me one good week over all the average weeks. This is my last week for a while so give it my all for the last few days and see what happens.”
The last two editions of this championship has seen the winning score break 20-under-par but the early portion of round one hasn’t yielded the barrage of birdies usually seen at the Earth Course with the rough seemingly more penal than in previous years.
For Lowry, it’s golf the way it should be.
The Clara man was steady in his opening round with two birdies and one bogey but missed several bride opportunities from inside ten-feet. But while he missed chances, a 71 hasn’t put him under the cosh as much as it would have in previous years and he believes he is playing well enough to be a factor again this weekend.
“Looks like the scoring isn’t as good this year as it has been,” Lowry explained. “The rough is pretty penal so maybe that’s the difference. I feel like I played well enough to shoot 67 or 66 today but I burned the edge a lot early on and the hole got smaller from there!
“I felt like I played great golf again today and one under isn’t too bad.
“If I holed the putt on the last I would be delighted with myself here but it is what it is. Onwards and upwards to tomorrow and try and shoot a decent number. This course does get easier as the day goes on because the wind gets up and actually helps you so we’ll see how the others get on.
“Normally someone shoots eight under the first day but the rough is brutal, you get in there and sometimes you can’t get it out of it. It’s nice to play golf like that its frustrating sometimes if you shoot five under you’re not that happy. If you shoot in the 60s you will be happy with yourself and that’s the way golf should be.”
At the time of writing, Rory McIlroy is just one shot off the lead at three-under through twelve holes while Tom McKibbin birdied the last for a one-under 71.