"I struggled, really"- Shane Lowry gets candid about day 1 at the 2024 DP World Tour Championship
Shane Lowry didn't have the best day to open the DP World Tour Championship. The Irishman shot just one-under in the opening round, ending the day tied for 20th. Lowry is only four strokes back, however, so he's far from out of the competition.
He said he believes scoring will be down this year compared to previous years, adding that "the rough is pretty penal" for golfers this year. Lowry said via ASAP Sports:
"Maybe that's the difference. I felt like I played good enough to shoot sort of, you know, 67 or 66 today. But I burned the edge a lot early on, and then the hole got smaller from there. I struggled, really. But I felt like I played great golf again today. One-under is not too bad."
Lowry was able to make a key putt on a nine-foot attempt on the 17th hole. It landed for par, keeping him from being even on the round. He said he wished he'd kept the momentum and birdied the 18th, but he's ready for tomorrow to try and improve.
Shane Lowry opens up on overall play at DP World Tour Championship
Shane Lowry had a self-proclaimed rough outing at the DP World Tour Championship. Despite that, he was under par and only four strokes off the lead after the opening round. The Irishman believes this might be indicative of low scoring overall.
It's the best opening round he's had in three starts at the event. Lowry said via ASAP Sports:
"Normally, you get someone shooting eight-under the first day. The rough is brutal. You get in there, it's very hard to control your ball. You sometimes can't even get it out. Yeah, that's nice. It's nice to play golf like that. It's frustrating sometimes to play golf where if you shoot 5-under you're not that happy. So if you shoot in the 60s today you'll be very happy, and I think that's the way golf should be."
Lowry does anticipate it getting easier, as the course historically gets "easier as the wind picks up." He will look to utilize that and play better in his own eyes in round two.
The golfer has been remarkably consistent over the season, but he hasn't reached the highs he wants. He acknowledged that he'd swap out the consistency to be able to play really well for a bit.
"Give me one good week over all the average weeks. We'll see. This is my last week of the year, last week for a while. Give it everything I have over the next few days and see what happens," Shane Lowry said.
Lowry will need to catch the leaders Tyrrell Hatton and Rory McIlroy, as well as Paul Waring, and others who are ahead on the leaderboard presently.