LOWRY HITS FORM IN TIME FOR WEEKEND
SHANE Lowry carded his lowest round of the year, a six-underpar 65, to catapult into contention in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head yesterday. After an eagle on the second hole, the Open champion almost had a brace of aces in a blistering front nine as he surged to seven under for the tournament. Lowry’s tee shot on the par-three fourth finished inches from the cup, while he stiffed his approach on the short seventh to two feet. He also picked up strokes on the fifth, ninth and 12th holes to offset a lone bogey on the third. Seeking his first win since Royal Portrush, Lowry was four strokes off the early pace-setter Corey Connors, who went one better than Lowry with a 64. First-round leader Cam Smith was on nine under after a 71. ‘I enjoyed today. It’s nice to shoot a good score. And it’s my first good score in a few weeks. So just enjoy that and just get out there tomorrow and get after it,’ said Lowry. In 2017, Lowry opened with a 66 in this event only to fall back, as he recalled. ‘A couple of years ago I got off to a good start and I maybe tried to force it a little bit. So just try to stay patient the next few days.’ On the European Tour, Alejandro Canizares recovered brilliantly from a stumbling start at the Austrian Golf Open to maintain his lead at Diamond Country Club, where Martin Kaymer lies one stroke back heading into the weekend. Canizares, the two-time European Tour winner, opened his second round with a bogey at the tenth hole, his first, followed by a double bogey at the 11th.
The 38-year-old dug deep, however, and three successive birdies from the 14th hole along with four more on the way home helped him to a two-under 70 and a seven under par total. Two-time major winner Kaymer signed for the same score thanks to five birdies and three bogeys to share second place with Irish Open champion John Catlin on six under, while South Africa’s Justin Walters was a shot further back on five under. Paul Dunne (71) made a welcome cut on level par, two shots ahead of Cormac Sharvin (71), but Gavin Moynihan (75) missed out.