The men in black – Shane Lowry’s choice of team wear this time, after Rory McIlroy opened the fashion matchups with pink and navy on the opening day – combined well again, as a second round foursomes effort of 70 to go with their first round fourballs 61 saw the Ryder Cup duo take a share of the clubhouse lead on 13-under-par 131 in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
After the birdie fest of the first day’s fourballs, the more demanding format of alternate shot play meant for more patience that the free-wheeling of the first round.
For Lowry and McIlroy, competing together for the first time in the novel two-man team event, there were a number of shots left behind them – some birdie putts and even an eagle chip grazing the hole at different junctures – but an overall feeling of satisfaction as the pair remained in contention headed into the weekend which will see another round of fourballs followed by a closing round of foursomes Sunday.
Having started on the 10th, a birdie-bogey-birdie run from the 11th was followed by seen straight pars before a bogey on the par three third. But it was a par save on the fourth – where Lowry rolled in a 10-footer – that really kept their round intact and back-to-back birdies on the seventh (where Lowry’s eagle chip shaved the cup and McIlroy tapped in for birdie) and eighth holes (Lowry playing a great bunker shot to four feet for McIlroy to finish the job) moved them into the business part of proceedings again.
On that significant par saving putt on the fourth (their 13th), Lowry admitted: “I had missed a few around the turn, pretty short one on 18 and then another one on the second. I started to get a little bit into myself, but to roll that one in was nice, and to play the last few holes the way we did was really nice too. I think a bit of a lesson there for myself to kind of keep going and just keep trying and keep plugging away. We did that today, and I’m pretty happy how we finished . . . I knew we had a couple of chances coming in. We managed to take them, and that was nice.”
McIlroy, too, played a role on getting Lowry to keep his mind on the job after those missed chances around the turn. “I was just trying to keep him as positive as possible and just remind him that I’m here and I’m here to back him up in any way that I can. So, yeah, just trying to keep him positive,” he recalled.
The McIlroy/Lowry partnership joined Aaron Rai and David Lipsky on the 131 mark, while a trio of teams – Callum Tarren and David Skinns; Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin; and Zach Johnson and Kevin Palmer – were one stroke further adrift on 132.
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