When Shane Lowry hit his wedge approach to inside four feet on the fifth hole of his opening round of the D+D Czech Masters at the Albatross resort outside Prague to set up his fourth birdie, it seemed that his decision to add the tournament on to his late-season schedule – hoping to impress Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald – was a shrewd move.
But that was as good as it got for Lowry, as that fourth birdie in five holes proved to be his last. After the fast start, he hit speed bumps along the way and three bogeys on his scorecard en route home saw him sign for a one-under-par 71, to trail first round leader Sami Valimaki of Finland by eight strokes.
Lowry’s 71 was actually the same score as that recorded by Donald and, indeed, Pádraig Harrington who, in a change of direction in his scheduling, added the tournament in Prague on to his own itinerary rather than playing on the Champions Tour stateside.
Without any way of playing his way into the automatic Ryder Cup places before the qualifying ends at next week’s Omega European Masters in Switzerland, which Lowry is not playing in as takes a week off ahead of the Horizon Irish Open at The K Club and then defending his BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, this is Lowry’s final outing before Donald names his six wild cards on September 4th, the Monday ahead of the Irish Open.
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While Lowry and Harrington each signed for 72s, to lie in tied-72nd after the opening round, Corkman John Murphy proved to be the best of the Irish trio in action in Prague. Murphy, who has suffered six straight missed cuts on the DP World Tour since his tied-28th finish in the Belgian Open back in May, had three birdies and a bogey in opening with a two-under 70 for tied-46th.
Valimaki’s sizzling 63 saw him claim a two strokes lead over five players, among them Ryder Cup hopeful Nicolai Hojgaard who is also looking to impress Donald for a pick, while Bob MacIntyre – currently in an automatic place – opened strongly with a 66.
“I love driving the golf ball and here I feel free. I’m not enclosed or jammed in with trees. It’s got a linksy kind of feel to it, it’s open and you can let rip with the driver. I do enjoy giving the driver an old skelp,” said MacIntyre, who is currently third in the European points list as he hones in on a debut in the Ryder Cup next month.
On the Challenge Tour, Kildare man Conor O’Rourke made an impressive start to the Dormy Open at Askersunds Golf Club in Sweden where he shot an opening round of five-under-par 62 to trail first round leader Rikard Karlberg by one.
O’Rourke – currently 225th in the Race to Mallorca standings – had seven birdies and two bogeys in his round to get into a three-way tie for second. Both Conor Purcell and Stuart Grehan opened with level par 67s.
