Rory McIlroy and Seamus Power are best of the Irish after opening round 71's at the Open championship.
South African amateur Christo Lamprecht, Emiliano Grillo and England's Tommy Fleetwood share the lead on five-under-par.
McIlroy played a strong back nine after his open hopes nearly died on day one. After, the Down man found himself two-over-par by 14. However, back to back birdies on 14 and 15 saved the day.
Meanwhile, 2019 champion Shane Lowry is one-over-par after today. Meath amateur Alex Maguire posted a 72 also. Darren Clarke is two-over-par and Padraig Harrington three-over.
“Yeah, I played really nicely” smiled Seamus Power. “One mistake on the greens and then didn't make any of kind of distance, but was one of those days when I made a couple of nice saves there towards the end on some of the tougher holes”.
“All in all” I’m “pleased, but obviously a little bit disappointed”. It “felt like I had good chances” declared Power. “I was hitting it very nicely there for a while. But it's not easy out there. There's not any easy gimme holes. So overall not too bad”.
Disappointed Lowry
Shane Lowry was disappointed with his performance, after shooting a one-over-par 72.
“I felt like there was decent stuff in there and a few silly mistakes” explained Lowry. ”A little disappointing where I feel like I might have played a little bit better than that”.
“Level par before I played out there and with the two par-five’s to come, you think you're going to give yourself a chance to shoot under par”.
“Look, it is what it is” declared Lowry. “There's some good scores. I haven't really looked at the scores, but I'm sure there's some bad scores, as well. I didn't feel like it was that easy. I felt like the back nine was playing quite tricky. To get the ball in the fairway and get irons in your hand, tricky shots, wind in out of the left”.
“Yeah, I don't really know what to make of my day. Kind of felt pretty average. Some nice stuff but some average stuff, as well”.
Tommy Fleetwood's first round was his best opening round ever in The Open.
Enjoy @TommyFleetwood1's 66 in 60 seconds. pic.twitter.com/hQooJ7FJsD— The Open (@TheOpen) July 20, 2023
