Lowry back to earth with a bump!

• May 29, 2009

Irish Open sensation Shane Lowry came back to earth with a rude bump in today’s first round of the European Open.

Irish Open sensation Shane Lowry came back to earth with a rude bump in today’s first round of the European Open.
His eagerly-awaited professional debut at the London Golf Club in Kent fell miles short of what he was hoping for.
While Dane Anders Hansen went round the Kent venue in a seven-under-par 65, the 22-year-old who won the Irish Open as an amateur 11 days ago, slumped to a 78 to be joint 147th of the 156 players.
After signing his card Lowry emerged with the words: “It’s over.”
Although he said he was not nervous, playing partner Paul McGinley sensed he was, and it would have been understandable.
“He has propelled himself into a different stratosphere,” said McGinley. “It was very difficult for him – it would be for anybody – but he is a class player and I didn’t see any weaknesses.”
Lowry, who before his shock 300/1 victory had intended to stay amateur until after September’s Walker Cup, commented: “I felt a bit flat and I’m glad to have it over.
“It’s the first day of many hopefully and there will be good days and bad days.
“I just got off to a bad start, four over after six, and didn’t feel myself to be honest. I knew it was going to be tough, it’s not an easy course by any means.”
He now faces a huge task just to survive the halfway cut, but he has good company in that.
World number five Henrik Stenson improved only two strokes on the 78 with which he started last week’s BMW PGA Championship, and the horrendous last six months of 2005 US Open champion Michael Campbell continued with an 80.
The tournament also saw the professional debut of Australian Scott Arnold, top of the world amateur rankings last week, and he managed only a 79.
Hansen’s chip-in eagle at the 563-yard eighth, his penultimate hole, gave him a one-stroke lead over England’s Sam Little, Swede Peter Hanson, Indian Jyoti Randhawa and South African Thomas Aiken in the race for the £300,000 first prize – £100,000 less than Ross Fisher received last July in a sign of the times.
“It’s always nice to lead a tournament at any stage, but the main thing is to have a chance on Sunday,” said Hansen, twice a winner of Europe’s flagship PGA Championship and also twice a winner in South Africa earlier this year.
Hanson’s 66 came only three days after he holed-in-one in a play-off to earn a US Open spot, while Monday was also a good day for Aiken as it was only then that he learnt he had a place in this week’s event.
Players Championship winner Stenson, who ran up double-bogey sevens on both the 12th and 15th, said: “It’s not a crisis and I’m not really worried. There were a lot of good things even though I was not getting the scoring going.”
Troubled by neck and back problems, New Zealander Campbell has not made a cut since the Dunhill Links Championship in October and at Wentworth a week ago handed in scores of 79 and 82.
He had to wait only three holes this morning for it all to go horribly wrong again. Two lost balls off the tee at the long 12th led to a quadruple-bogey nine.
Having lost his card by finishing only 131st on last season’s money list, Aiken is currently 25th and commented: “I’m fine for next year now, but just to keep playing this year I’ve obviously got to rely on invites.”
He was “only” level par at the turn, but then birdied six of the next eight holes.
Sergio Garcia came back from an opening double bogey to score a three-under 69, Rory McIlroy was on the same mark and both Lee Westwood and Colin Montgomerie one further back. Masters champion Angel Cabrera, meanwhile, shot 72.
Montgomerie was asked what his first professional round was.
“A 76 in Switzerland which felt like 96,” said the Ryder Cup captain.
ALL THE FIRST ROUND SCORES
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
65 Anders Hansen (Den)
66 Peter Hanson (Swe), Thomas Aiken (Rsa), Sam Little, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind)
67 Christian Cevaer (Fra), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Shiv Kapur (Ind), Marcel Siem (Ger), Peter Lawrie, Simon Khan, Alessandro Tadini (Ita), Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra)
68 Anton Haig (Rsa), David Horsey, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Ben Curtis (USA), Graeme Storm, Anthony Wall, Robert Karlsson (Swe), Jamie Donaldson, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa), Christopher Doak
69 Chris Wood, Steve Webster, Roope Kakko (Fin), Soren Hansen (Den), Sergio Garcia (Spa), Branden Grace (Rsa), Daniel Vancsik (Arg), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), Rory McIlroy, Chapchai Nirat (Tha), Tano Goya (Arg), Marcus Fraser (Aus)
70 Mikael Lundberg (Swe), Carlos Del Moral (Spa), Joakim Haeggman (Swe), Jose Manuel Lara (Spa), Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa), Lee Westwood, Richard Bland, Graeme McDowell, Paul Waring, David Howell, Colin Montgomerie, Taco Remkes (Ned), Paul McGinley, Ross McGowan
71 Gary Orr, Oliver Wilson, Klas Eriksson (Swe), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Steven O’Hara, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den), Oliver Fisher, Johan Edfors (Swe), Simon Wakefield, John Daly (USA), Callum Macaulay, Lee Slattery, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Shaun Micheel (USA), Alejandro Canizares (Spa), Alastair Forsyth, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra), Magnus A Carlsson (Swe), Seve Benson, Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Gregory Bourdy (Fra), Ignacio Garrido (Spa)
72 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Rafael Echenique (Arg), Danny Willett, Pelle Edberg (Swe), John Bickerton, Anthony Kang (USA), Felipe Aguilar (Chi), Markus Brier (Aut), Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Oskar Henningsson (Swe), Miles Tunnicliff, Bradley Dredge, Nick Dougherty, Scott Drummond, Angel Cabrera (Arg), David Lynn, David Drysdale, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par), Richard Sterne (Rsa)
73 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned), Ross Fisher, Martin Erlandsson (Swe), Benn Barham, James Ablett, Peter Hedblom (Swe), Wil Besseling (Ned), Michael Hoey, Retief Goosen (Rsa), Peter Senior (Aus), Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Paul Broadhurst, Gary Lockerbie, Stephen Gallacher, Paul Lawrie, David Dixon, Richard Green (Aus), Mark Foster
74 Jeppe Huldahl (Den), Damien McGrane, Richie Ramsay, Francois Delamontagne (Fra), Gareth Maybin, Darren Clarke, David Frost (Rsa), Andrew McLardy (Rsa), Robert Rock, Richard Finch, Michael Jonzon (Swe), Inder Van Weerelt (Ned), Peter O’Malley (Aus)
75 Zane Scotland, Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Andrew Coltart, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha), Brett Rumford (Aus), Gary Murphy, Stephen Dodd, Phillip Archer, Pablo Martin (Spa)
76 Jason McCreadie, Robert Dinwiddie, Alan McLean, Maarten Lafeber (Ned), Kenneth Ferrie, Andrew Oldcorn, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Barry Lane, Gregory Havret (Fra)
77 Alvaro Velasco (Spa), Phillip Price, Scott Strange (Aus), Mark Brown (Nzl)
78 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe), Shane Lowry
79 Marc Warren, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe), Scott Arnold (Hkg), David Gilford, Simon Dyson
80 Michael Campbell (Nzl)
84 Reinier Saxton (Ned)