Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Low score of the day for Shane
SHANE LOWRY produced a sizzling opening round of 10-under-par 62 to equal the course record at the
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Wednesday.
The Offaly man sank 10 birdies in a spotless round to take a three-shot lead ahead of Louis Oosthuizen, Richard Sterne and Mike Lorenzo-vera and Pablo Larrazabal.
Playing in his first event since the World Cup of Golf in November, Lowry made a blistering start as he notched five birdies in seven holes from the 12th to reach the turn in 31.
The 31-year-old continued his impressive run on the back nine, rolling in three straight birdies from the first hole, and followed it up with gains on the seventh and eighth.
As well as equalling the course record set by Henrik Stenson, the round also matched Lowry’s career best from the 2009 Irish Open, which he won while still an amateur.
“I’m obviously over the moon. It equals the best score I’ve ever shot,” Lowry said.
“I had quite a lot of time off since the World Cup but put in a decent bit of work the last two weeks over here in Dubai and I’ve just gone out with not much expectation but knew I was playing OK and yeah, everything clicked.
“I didn’t hit as many fairways as I would have liked but I was hitting everything close and managed to hole a couple of putts.”
Oosthuizen recovered from a double bogey at the 12th with birdies at the 15th, 16th and 18th. Six more birdies on the back nine ensured the former Open winner signed for a 65.