Lowry nearly has a smashing time; Calcavecchia bowling along nicely at home; Moriarty greeted with Irish Open invitation; Maybin fails to soar despite RAF base; Mickelson’s Open woes continue

Lowry nearly has a smashing time

SHANE Lowry very nearly had a shattering experience at St Andrews yesterday, although it had nothing to do with his golf. After finishing his round – recording a birdie on the 18th for a 73 which left him on 141, three under, and comfortably inside the cut on his maiden major appearance – the Irish Open champion threw his golf ball towards a group of supporters.

Unfortunately for Lowry, his throwing accuracy didn’t match his skill when using a golf club. He missed their outstretched hands, and then watched as the ball flew towards one of the windows of the St Andrews Golf Club, where potential embarrassment was averted by a spectator catching the ball.

Lowry was upbeat afterwards. “It is satisfying enough to make the cut here in my first major and hopefully I can push on over the weekend and I really do feel like I can.

“What expectations do I have? Two (rounds of) 63 and the Claret Jug. Ah no, I never set an objective. You just go out and you try to play as best you can every day. It if is 63 or 73, I’ve still tried over every shot.”

Having set his alarm clock for 4.45 am, but pressing the snooze button to get an extra 20 minutes sleep, Lowry had to dig deep in yesterday’s second round when he ran up a double bogey six on the second, where he pushed his tee shot down the right into gorse.

“I tried not to make any silly mistakes, that was my objective going out and I made a stupid double on the second. But that’s the way things go, and I managed to pull it back from there.”

Calcavecchia bowling along nicely at home

SOME tour players simply don’t know what to do with their money, but Mark Calcavecchia is not one of them. He recently built a two-lane bowling alley extension to the family home in Jupiter, Florida. “There’s always plenty of ways to spend it. It’ll take me the rest of my life to pay for it,” said Calc.

Moriarty greeted with Irish Open invitation

COLM Moriarty was greeted with some good news from his manager Conor Ridge on finishing his second round. Ridge flipped open his mobile phone to show his man a text confirming he’d received an invitation into the 3 Irish Open at Killarney in a fortnight’s time.

Maybin fails to soar despite RAF base

USUALLY, tour players like the luxury of staying in hotels or renting a house when at a major. Gareth Maybin took a different approach towards his debut appearance in the British Open, accepting an offer from a friend to stay with him at the nearby Leuchars RAF base.

“The guy I’m staying with took me out and showed me the Tornadoes and the F3s, so that was pretty cool,” admitted Maybin, who failed to survive the midway cut after shooting a second round 76 for 148, four over.

Mickelson’s Open woes continue

A FRUSTRATED Phil Mickelson was unable to improve his dismal British Open record yet again yesterday. After only one top 10 finish in his first 16 appearances – he was third at Troon in 2004 – Mickelson could do no better than level par for his first two rounds at St Andrews.