Golf

MacIntyre negotiates route to top of Canadian Open with second round 66

Lowry shoots well-crafted 68 to ensure his presence over the weekend

Ireland's Shane Lowry playing from the fourth tee during the second round of the Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Hamilton, Ontario. Photograph: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
Ireland's Shane Lowry playing from the fourth tee during the second round of the Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Hamilton, Ontario. Photograph: Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images
Philip Reid
Fri May 31 2024 - 21:12

Robert MacIntyre did what he had to do. So too Shane Lowry. The shinty-loving Scot has not dropped a shot through 36 holes of the RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Country Club in Ontario as he carded a second round 66 to his opening 64 for a midway total of 10-under-par. This moved him to the top of the leader board in his bid for a breakthrough win in his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

In Lowry’s case the GAA-loving Offaly man started his second round on the outside looking in as regards surviving the half-way cut; but a well-crafted 68 improved on his opening round 72 by four shots to get back to level par 140 and ensured his presence into the weekend.

Lowry, in 10th place in the FedEx Cup standings with the aim of making the season-ending Tour Championship (limited only to the top-30 players), had five birdies and three bogeys in a second round that at least guaranteed he would have a further two rounds to further his upward trajectory.

But Lowry had to dig deep with back-to-back birdies on the third (from 22ft) and fourth (from 5ft) – those holes were the 12th and 13th of his round after starting on the 10th – followed by five straight pars to finish ensuring he would make the cut.

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MacIntyre – his Europe Ryder Cup team-mate from the win over the USA in Rome last September – was the one, however, who negotiated a route to the top in his maiden season on the PGA Tour having earned one of 10 cards through the DP World Tour last year.

A round of four birdies with no bogeys for a second straight day on the old Harry Colt course which underwent an upgrade from Martin Ebert in recent years, enabled MacIntyre – whose most recent professional win came in the 2022 Italian Open – to scale the heights to claim the clubhouse lead, three clear of David Skinns, Andrew Novak and Mackenzie Hughes when he completed his round.

With his father carrying his bag for the first time after answering an SOS from his son, MacIntyre certainly looked very much relaxed and focused on the task at hand. He said of his father: “He’s learning on the run, and I’m kind of trying to stay as calm as I can. When I do miss a shot I’m not trying to get too annoyed. We’re just trying to have as much fun as we can.”

MacIntyre – who has had a number of caddies in recent months and also suffered from homesickness – added: “Look, it’s something that he can always say he’s led a PGA Tour event at some point. What happens over the next two rounds, who knows? I’m going to go out there and do the same stuff, hit as many fairways as I can, hit as many good shots as I can, just keep doing the same stuff. As I keep saying, it’s not rocket science, it’s a golf course. It’s you versus it. I think I’ve done a good job so far.”

In the weather-hit European Open in Hamburg on the DP World Tour, Northern Ireland’s Tom McKibbin – defending the title he won last year – shot a second round 71 to add to his opening 69 for a midway total of six-under-par 140 which moved him inside the top five.

And in the US Women’s Open at Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania, Australian Minjee Lee and Japan’s Yaka Saso shared the early clubhouse lead through 36-holes on one-under-par 139.

Philip Reid

Philip Reid

Philip Reid is Golf Correspondent of The Irish Times