Shane Lowry was out celebrating on a delightful Indian supper after producing an equal lowest first round score all season on day one of the DP World India Championship in New Delhi.
Lowry brilliantly ignited hopes of a first DP World Tour event in just over three years with a blemish-free eight-under 64 to head the inaguural $4m event by a shot from Japan’s Keita Nakajima who had led for much of the day after firing a seven-under-par 65 in the morning at Delhi Golf Club but afternoon starter Lowry managed to leapfrog him after making eight birdies in a spotless round.
After carding back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth, Lowry caught fire at the start of the back nine as he picked up shots on the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th to join Nakajima at the summit.
LOWRY IGNITES HOPES OF INDIAN TRIUMPH …
Leads day one #DPWIC with equal 2025 @DPWorldTour & @PGATOUR opening round best of 6⃣4⃣
Read: https://t.co/JRHQ2wKcVz
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✅ @TOURMISS pic.twitter.com/5dFF8OfDcp
— Fatiha (@TOURMISS) October 16, 2025
The Ryder Cup hero then finished his round with a birdie from four feet on the 18th to lead the way on eight under par.
Japan’s Nakajima was his nearest challenger on seven under, one ahead of Casey Jarvis after the South African’s sparkling 66.
Lowry’s 64 matches a best on this year’s PGA Tour posting a day one 64 at the Trust Championship (Eventual T2nd finsh) and a 64 on day one of the RBC Canadian Open (Result being T13th)
The Irishman made four pars before getting his next birdie from 12 feet at the 11th hole.
After sending his tee-shot at the short 12th to ten feet and knocking in the putt, Lowry holed from similar range on the 13th for a hat-trick of birdies.
He took advantage of the par-five 14th before rolling in from eight feet on the 15th to make it five in a row.
Lowry then managed to get up and down from just shy of the 18th green for another birdie to take the outright lead.
“It was a really nice group, playing with Luke and Tommy. We all had a great time and we all played pretty good. I just rolled off a few more birdies than they did on the back nine.
“You know, 64 is a really nice score. It’s not that hard when you hit it in play out there but when you start missing fairways it becomes quite tricky. I’m pretty happy with that.
“I haven’t played with Luke that much in tournaments but obviously I know him pretty well and we all fed off each other and it was nice.
“I feel like this type of golf course suits me. I spend half the year moaning about golf courses that are too wide, so when I get to somewhere like here, I need to take advantage of that, and I did that today and hopefully I can keep doing that for the rest of the week.”
Grand Slam winning Rory McIlroy signed for a three-under 69 to be sharing 17th place.
