Shane Lowry made a bright start to the Irish Open at The K Club on Thursday, with the 38-year-old posting a three under par round of 69 in his first appearance since being confirmed as a member of the European Ryder Cup team.
It appeared that it may prove to be a frustrating day for Shane Lowry in County Kildare. He found himself at one over par after eight holes having started his round on the 10th tee.
However, Lowry found some momentum from there, with four birdies in his final 10 holes to put himself in the mix early on in the event he famously won as an amateur back in 2009.
Lowry arguably had something of a point to prove after an underwhelming end to the PGA Tour season. His most recent top 10 came at the Truist Championship back in May.
Shane Lowry pleased after making a change to his bag for the Irish Open
It seems that a change within his bag helped set the stage for Lowry’s impressive opening round in Ireland on Thursday.
Speaking after his round, Lowry suggested that putting a new driver in play this week has reaped early rewards.
“Yeah, average start; good finish. Felt like, honestly, I was one over through whatever, eight holes, but felt like I hit the ball well. One sloppy three-putt and a sloppy bogey and didn’t really hole much,” he said.
“Then birdie the 18th or 9th and played lovely coming in and gave myself a few chances. Holed a nice putt on the eighth and then was nice to birdie the last. So it was a nice day. Nice way to start the week.”
“It’s a new driver too, so very, very happy with myself. Yeah, honestly I’ve been struggling to find the driver that I love this year, and yeah, that was good today,” he added.
Shane Lowry’s statistics off the tee during the 2025 season
Lowry has been in the middle of the pack off the tee on the PGA Tour this year. He sits 82nd for strokes gained in that particular area. He is however, just inside the top 50 for driving accuracy.
The 2019 Open champion went on to hit 11 of 14 fairways on Thursday at The K Club. That is certainly a positive start with a new driver.
Returning to familiar surroundings may have helped also, with Lowry speaking about how impressive the crowds have been so far this week.
“Yeah, they’re great. The Irish crowds are great. We obviously had that at the Open a few weeks ago as well. It was really nice. It’s nice to play well in front of them as well, and hopefully I can keep playing all right and give them something to cheer about come Sunday,” he said.
Lowry finds himself a few shots back after his first round. But it would certainly not be a surprise if he was able to make his way into contention as the week goes on.
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