Shane Lowry has avoided the huge embarrasment of a first round confrontation with fellow Irishman Graeme McDowell in this week’s historic Volvo World Match-Play Championship in Bulgaria.
Unlike Lowry’s match-up with then World No. 1 Rory McIlroy earlier this year in Arizona, Lowry will not meet McDowell unless both qualify for Sunday’s final in the Euro 3m event.
Lowry shocked the golf world in easily accounting for McIlroy in the Arizona desert and while he then beat Sweden’s Carl Pettersson in the second round encounter he was bundled out of the $8.75m event win losing 3 & 2 in a third round encounter against McDowell.
Shane Lowry avoids first round encounter with Graeme McDowell in this week’s historic Volvo World Match-Play Championship.
And Lowry’s new fitness routine will be put to the test with the nature of the Bulgarian event means Lowry sitting out Thursday’s round of ‘seeded player’ matches before playing two matches on Friday against South African George Coetzee in the morning and then Sweden’s Peter Hanson in the afternoon.
“There’s no bad players out here and I’ve never really mattered who I got really, I was going to have a job to do as George is a good player, and Peter is a great player,” said Lowry.
“I’ve got Thursday off, so I will have a nice lie in that will suit me fine and then it’s going to be tough on Friday but it is what it is. It’s not like I’ve not played 36 holes before.”
McDowell, who was runner-up last year, will tackle England’s Chris Wood tomorrow (THUR) and then face Scotland’s Stephen Gallacher on Friday.
The Irish pair joined all 24 players today (TUES) to get their first close look to the stunning Gary Player designed course laid out along the Black Sea.
Thracian Cliffs is one of three courses opened within the last decade and each located within 10 minutes of each other, and also among only eight in Europe’s 14th largest country but also one of the poorest.
The course is stretched some four kilometres, and lying between 40-metres and 100 metres above the shoreline, and while there are numerous signs warning of the cliff edge the European Tour has issued a special statement warning of snakes including a ‘white headed snake with zigzags on its back that are poisonous, but not serious’.
However the Tour adds they have on hand anti-venom that will be administered by medics.
