Encouraging starts for McDowell and Lowry in Houston as Hoey shines in Cadiz
Brandt Snedeker of the United States plays his shot from the 18th tee during the first round of the Vivint Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course on November 05, 2020 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell got their Masters preparations off to a promising start by chiselling out one-under 69s to lie just four shots behind leader Brandt Snedeker in the Vivint Houston Open.
The Open champion (33) made three birdies and two bogeys at 7,400-yard Memorial Park Golf Course in the first post-pandemic PGA Tour to allow fans as McDowell and two birdies and a bogey to leave them tied for 16th. Scores
Lowry said: “Yeah, it was good. It's weird coming to a course you don't really know and nobody knows. To be honest, I only got to play nine holes on Tuesday and then I walked eight or nine on yesterday and I wasn't too kind of -- I thought it was going to be a really good test and it was and the scoring is showing that it is. So I'm happy. Anything under par is good out there, so I'm happy.”
The extreme greens make the course a serious test in preparation for the Masters but given its length, Lowry is giving his long irons a good work out for the final major of the season.
“Just the greens, the green complexes,” he said when asked what makes the course so testing. “Some of the pin positions are just kind of very tricky to get it close. There's quite a lot of 500-yard par 4s and if you miss fairways, you're struggling. So it's tricky all around. It's a really good test, but it's like you said, it is very tough.
“Yeah, different grass, that's the only thing. So it's going to play a little bit different that way, but as regards you're hitting a lot of mid to long irons out here, you need to be very precise with your iron shots, so it's not too bad. You know, other than the grass, it kind of has most other things that you would want to get ready for next week.”
Pádraig Harrington birdied his final hole, the short ninth, for a 71 that left him six shots behind Snedeker who made six birdies in a five-under 65 to lead by two strokes from Cameron Davis, Michael Thompson, Carlos Ortiz, Harold Varner III, Scottie Scheffler and Jason Day.
World No 1 Dustin Johnson and four-time major winner Brooks Koepka shot two-over 72s but Jordan Spieth, who led early on three-under with six holes to play, dropped six shots coming in to card a 73 while Phil Mickelson didn’t make a birdie in a 76.
Robert MacIntyre. Picture: Getty Images
On the European Tour, Cormac Sharvin bounced back from two opening bogeys to card a two-under 69 in the first round of the Aphrodite Hills Cyprus Showdown. Scores
He was tied for 30th, four strokes behind Scottish left-hander Robert MacIntyre as Clandeboye's Jonathan Caldwell shot a one-over 72 to share 81st with only the top 32 making the cut.
MacIntyre (24) made six birdies in a bogey-free 65 to lead by a shot from a seven-strong chasing pack that included 2014 Ryder Cup hero Jamie Donaldson.
On the Challenge Tour, Michael Hoey (41) was thrilled to open with a five-under 67 that left him a shot behind Denmark's Martin Simonsen in the Andalucía Challenge de España in Cadiz. Scores
Martin Simonson. Picture: Getty Images
Seeking his first win since the M2M Russian Open in 2013, the Ballymoney man shrugged off the one-stroke penalty he was handed after his round for incorrectly placing his ball when preferring his lie at the 18th at Novo Sancti Petri.
"The course is wet, and I've just nudged the ball an inch as I took a preferred lie so in actual fact I hadn't preferred it," Hoey said.
"I should have just discounted that one and actually picked the ball up and preferred it properly.
"I should know after 20 years, but I didn't want to pick it up again because I thought I was prefer-lying it twice, but that's golf.
"You've got to be pernickety in a lot of things, but I was quite happy with the way I played because I've not played a lot of golf this year. Just seeing my name on the leaderboard, it's been a very, very long time."
Niall Kearney was tied 18th after a level-par 72 with Gavin Moynihan 44th after a 74.
