Shane Lowry has shared whether he believes Scottie Scheffler will be worried about trying to catch him with the Irishman five clear of the world number one after his second round at The Open.
Shane Lowry will hope that he is on course to replicate his 2019 Open Championship performance when he lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush. The 37-year-old shot a two-under par second round to lead at the halfway mark at Royal Troon.
Lowry has certainly looked a lot more comfortable in South Ayrshire than a lot of his peers. Lowry was tipped to contend at The Open, and he followed up a brilliant first round with a solid Friday.
The leaders have started to pull away a little from the rest of the field, but there is an interesting name sat at two-under par, five shots adrift of Lowry, in Scottie Scheffler.
Shane Lowry comments on Scottie Scheffler after second round at The Open
Scheffler has hardly grabbed the headlines considering how dominant he has been this season, but he has shot two rounds of 70 to keep himself into the mix heading into the weekend.
And speaking to BBC Sport after the prospect of being the man everyone wants to catch, Lowry suggested that Scheffler will have few concerns about whether he is too far back ahead of the final two rounds.
“I wouldn’t say I’m a good front-runner,” he said.
“I’m not sure Scottie Scheffler is too worried about anyone with the form he’s in. He’s obviously on the leaderboard, and he’s one person that people are going to be talking about.
“There’s some other guys there as well. I see Justin Rose going well, and this guy Daniel Brown. I’ve never played with him, but obviously he had a great day yesterday and looks to be going all right today.
“Yeah, I don’t know. I think if I give myself a chance on Sunday, I know I can do it. That’s as good a position to be in as any.”
How Irishman put his foot down in 2019
Lowry will hope that he can force the chasing pack to have to do something special over the final two rounds to set up a tense finish. Troon has proved to be incredibly challenging for a number of the world’s best players, with Lowry himself ending up in real trouble on the 11th hole after a wayward approach.
Interestingly, Lowry was tied for the lead after two rounds in 2019, with his big move coming on Saturday as he moved four shots clear of Tommy Fleetwood – that lead would be six by the time he would complete his round on Sunday.
It will be interesting to see if the shadow of Scheffler has any impact on his performance on Saturday, particularly if the American gets off to a fast start ahead of him.
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