Open champion Shane Lowry was at his political best in reserving strong criticism of the greens in posting a frustrating level par 72 on day one of the Turkish Airlines Open at Belek.
There was a warm applause on the first tee with Lowry again being introduce at a European Tour event as ‘The Open Champion’ and Lowry responded sending a booming drive down the par-5 first hole.
It led to Lowry walking off with a birdie ‘4’ but any joy was short-lived with the Irishman frustratingly posting a bogey at the 13th in the middle of 16 pars.
Lowry heads into the second round of the first of the three ‘Final Series’ events trailing a shot behind Race to Dubai rival, Bernd Wiesberger and seven strokes behind the Turkish leading pair of England’s Tom Lewis and Austrian Mathias Schwab.
With all those around him seemingly scoring well, Lowry cut a frustrating figure in the clubhouse and finds himself languishing outside the top-50 after the opening 18 holes. Ranked third on the Race to Dubai, Lowry was out in the marquee last group of the day, a draw that he believes contributed to his day’s downfall.
“The greens are not great to be honest,” Lowry said. “I’m not going to stand here and give out too much but being last off wasn’t a great draw here today.”
“I played lovely, I can’t play any better than I did today – I just literally couldn’t get the ball in the hole from three feet. I barely missed a three footer all year and I missed three of them in quick succession today. Look, it is what it is. What can I do other than try and go out tomorrow and do a little better?”
Lowry’s pre-tournament chipping contest partner and three time Major Champion, Padraig Harrington didn’t enjoy the best of days in Antalya either.
The Dubliner returned a three-over par 75 in a round that included a quintuple-bogey 10 at the par-5 fifth and sits in 71st position at plus-three heading into day two.
