GOLF:IN HIS heyday, Fred Funk had a group who followed him around the fairways of the United States in fluorescent T-shirts. Know as "Funk's Punks", they brought a touch of Dulux colour to the game.
Yesterday, as Shane Lowry walked to the first tee for his US Open debut, the rain fell as if to remind him of a soft day in Clara and a group from home – in matching O’Neills polo shirts with the “Uibh Fhailí – the Faithful County” crest and LOWRY emblazoned on their backs in white, capital letters – gave him the sort of welcome that could have drifted the 10 miles or so back to the White House. It could have served as an alarm call for that second most famous Offaly man, Mr Obama from Moneygall.
The roars of approval from those supporters grouped by that first tee at 7am were not misplaced, for Lowry – who secured his place in the field through the International qualifying at Walton Heath outside London last month – produced a performance worthy of a veteran.
The 24-year-old went around the Blue Course in 72, one-over-par, which showed his growing maturity and his ability to deliver on the big occasion.
Indeed, the fact Lowry was suffering from cramps and, consequently, was unable to eat throughout his round – and confined to just taking liquids – made his round all the more noteworthy.
“No, I wasn’t really that nervous,” said Lowry of that opening tee-shot in his debut US Open. “I was just nice and relaxed. You know, I took the approach of ‘another tournament, another day’.”
Still after pushing his opening drive into a fairway bunker, Lowry got the momentum he was looking for on the third hole when he sank a 20-footer for a par. On some days, such pars are as precious as any birdie and, although he dropped a shot on the Par 5 ninth, where he pulled his lay-up approach into heavy rough, the round really kicked off when he made his way to the unforgiving Par 3 10th hole.
There, Lowry hit a five-iron tee-shot to 15 feet and rolled in the putt. It was the perfect start to a back nine which got tougher as he ran up bogeys at the 14th and the 17th before keeping the best ’til last. On the monster Par 4 18th – measuring 523 yards – Lowry’s drive left him with 190 yards to the front of the green. He hit a superb seven-iron which pitched 15 yards short of the peninsula green and ran up to six feet. He sank the birdie putt, to get the Offaly voices resonating again around the 18th to hail their man.
“Actually, I didn’t feel I was playing that well – but I got it around. I kept my momentum going, and I putted really well . . . except for one short putt, every one looked like it was going in, or burning the edge. I’m happy enough,” said Lowry.
On his maiden Major in the USA last year in the PGA at Whistling Straits, Lowry was visibly upset after missing the cut. Here, he adopted a different mindset. “I know it might sound quite negative, but I went out with the mindset not to make double (bogeys). You can deal with bogeys, but a double is hard to take. Anytime I hit it out of position off the tee, or on the fairway, I left myself a number to try and leave it ten or 15 feet for my par and hole it from there. If you’re leaving yourself ten or 15 feet for par, it takes double out of play.”
It was to prove a sensible approach, and one which has set him up nicely to achieve the first objective of making the midway cut. After that, a new goal can be set.
