Destiny may call, but answering it is never easy. And, as Shane Lowry discovered in navigating his way to the midway lead of this 152nd Open Championship, the speed bump – so to speak – came his way at the notoriously difficult 11th hole, known as Railway, where potential disaster was only averted by his actions afterwards in staying cool and calm to sign for a second round 69 to add to his opening 66 for a 36-holes total of seven-under-par 135, two shots clear of his pursuers.
Only halfway and all that in golf’s oldest Major with the hardest part still to go on a brutally tough links hard by the Firth of Clyde; and, yet, Lowry’s head space – as much as his shot-making in demanding, windy conditions – is what moved him into prime position to add a second Claret Jug to his win at Royal Portrush in 2019. Touching distance.
“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,” opined Lowry of carrying the lead into a weekend where rainy conditions are predicted to add to a challenge that, to date, has consisted of winds which whipped upwards of 30 miles an hour and caused carnage for some.
Lowry took a two strokes lead into the final two rounds over two Englishmen: Daniel Brown, a player ranked 272nd in the world, who has shown resilience of his own in battling injury; and Justin Rose, who got the worse of the winds for the first two days yet incurred only one bogey. Brown, the first round leader, shot a 72 and Rose a 68 to finish on 137.
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Of the six Irishmen who set out for glory, four survived the cut – Lowry, obviously, at the very head of the leaderboard, but also two-time champion Pádraig Harrington and Tom McKibbin (on three over 145) and Darren Clarke (on 148, after a fine second round 71) – whilst Rory McIlroy’s Major woes continued, this time with a missed cut to join amateur Liam Nolan in departing Ayrshire ahead of schedule.
Players didn’t just have to look to the flags whipping off flagpoles to get insights into the strong winds; in fact, the approaches of the planes overhead dipping into Prestwick airport, their wings shaking as if made of paper, provided confirmation its strength.
This was a day for a low ball flight, and for staying in the moment.
Rose, perhaps, performed this task best of all – his only bogey in 36 holes coming on the 12th where he finally fell victim to one of Troon’s steepfaced bunkers – as the former US Open champion successfully joined Brown as Lowry’s chief pursuers.
But Rose also felt the links had reached “tipping point” in how the elements were in control rather than the player. “I felt like it was a fair fight yesterday. Today just kind of was a bit more survival.
Lowry, though, also showed his own resilience.
For much of the round, the Offaly man – who had skipped last week’s Scottish Open and instead spent four days playing Hogs Head in Co Kerry with friends – was in control. He was a player in control of his shots.
“Hurling nicely,” his dad, Brendan, remarked of his son as Lowry – who started the day a shot behind Brown – moved to the top of the leaderboard. His play of the eighth, the famed Postage Stamp, was perfection personified as his wedge to 10 feet set up a third birdie of an outward nine that had only one blemish, on the par 3 fifth where he found a bunker off the tee.
Then, the speed bump. Would it push him off track?
Lowry did the hard part on the par 4 11th, a hole framed by the railway down the right and a line of gorse bushes down the left by getting his ball into play off the tee. In the light rough, down the right. Eminently playable.
Thereafter, it all went wrong.
As Lowry prepared to play his second shot, a TV cameraman moved beside him. “He was walking up, and I asked him to stop or move back, and he just kind of stayed there. As I was over, he put his camera up. I kind of saw it out of the corner of my eye, and I should stood off it, my own fault,” recalled Lowry, who snagged his shot and watched as it flew across to the far side and into a gorse bush.
Taking a provisional drop, he proceeded to put his next shot – what he thought was his fourth – to 10 feet of the flag. Only, the provisional ball never got to be the ball in play. A spectator, believing he was doing him a favour, delved into the thorny gorse and found Lowry’s original ball which, then, was still the one in play. A penalty drop later, and line of sight relief out from the gorse on to the 12th fairway, and some 20 minutes of delaying and working it all out ultimately resulted in a double-bogey six.
Lowry praised the contribution of his caddie Darren Reynolds. “He kept telling me, ‘we have loads of time. We don’t need to rush this. We just need to do the right thing here’. To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a 6. It wasn’t a disaster. I was still leading the tournament.”
And there would be no displays of anger or frustration or woe-be-me from Lowry. Instead, he got to the 12th tee and hit a cracking tee shot and went about his business in a cool, calm and collected manner that was rewarded with birdies on the 16th and 18th to cement his place as the 36-holes leader.
“This week in my head feels like that, where I think I’m ready to take what comes, take what’s given to me out there. I’m almost ready for anything that’s thrown at me. I feel like I’m ready to take it on the chin and move on. I just have to deal with it and try and make the best of it and see where it leads me,” explained Lowry of his mind being at ease and with a lead headed into the weekend.
A front-runner, better than being the chaser.
A good front-runner?
“I put myself there [in front] in a few big tournaments, and I’ve managed to knock them off. So I’ve done it a few times. I don’t know. It’s hard to win tournaments.”
Staying in moment. Destiny calling. Again.
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