Lowry shows sparks of brilliance but starts season with missed cut for second year running
Shane Lowry’s goal over the next few weeks is to be ready for the Masters.
Shane Lowry showed sparks of brilliance in the Farmers Insurance Open but he will miss the cut in his first event of the season for the second year running.
The world number 28 went into the second round on the North Course at Torrey Pines needing a solid day to make the weekend after opening with a level par 72 on the tougher South Course.
The North is traditionally the easier of the two layouts but with winds gusting over 30 mph at La Jolla, Lowry was blown away and shot six-over 42 on back nine, carding a three-over 75 to finish two shots outside the projected cut mark on three-over before play was suspended overnight.
The Offaly man, who also missed the cut in the American Express last season but went on to have a superb year, started well on the back nine, giving himself a 15-footer for an eagle three at his opening hole, the 10th.
He made birdie there and parred the next two holes before knocking in a six-footer for birdie at the 14th.
Brilliant iron play set up birdie chances at the 16th and 17th but while he missed those, he cut in a brilliant approach on the breeze to two feet at the 18th to set up a tap-in birdie.
After going out in three-under, Lowry was within striking distance of the leaders. But the stiff north-east breeze proved a massive challenge for the entire field and Lowry was one of the victims in his first start for eight weeks.
He bogeyed the first, second and fourth and while there was a one-hour, 26-minute suspension for high winds, he dropped further shots at the sixth, seventh and eighth to share 81st on three-over.
Overnight leader Ludvig Aberg also suffered in the wind but his three-over 75 on the South Course was enough to hold on to a share of the clubhouse lead with Lanto Griffin on six-under.
“Glad I'm done,” the Swede said. “It was hard, it was good. We knew it was going to be hard coming in. Obviously the South course is pretty hard even when you play it in 75 and no wind at all.
“Adding some 30-mile-an-hour gusts and sustained 15, it makes it pretty difficult. Felt like we hung in there quite well and gave ourselves a chance over the weekend.”
He added: “I don't remember the last time it was that hard to get close to the pins. The greens were hard and they were tricky, but I'm proud of the way I fought and looking forward to the next couple of days.”
Griffin shot 72 on the South Course to share the lead with Aberg on six-under, one stroke clear of Danny Walker, who shot 74 on the North Course.
The second round was suspended due to darkness with 29 players scheduled to complete their rounds from 3:30 pm Irish time.
Lowry is scheduled to join Rory McIlroy and Seamus Power in the field for next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
However, it remains to be seen if world number one Scottie Scheffler will join them.
Scheffler is recovering from surgery on his right hand after cutting it in a domestic accident on Christmas Day.
He was initially forecasted to miss three to four weeks but said last weekend he expects to make a decision within the "next few days to a week whether I'll be playing next week.”
The deadline to commit to play at Pebble Beach is Friday evening.
