Ireland’s Shane Lowry reaped the rewards of some concerted practice by equalling the course record with a stunning 62 in the first round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
Lowry, who is seeking a first victory since 2015, carded 10 birdies and no bogeys to finish 10-under-par, three shots clear of Spain’s Pablo Larrazabal, France’s Mike Lorenzo-Vera and the South African pair of Louis Oosthuizen and Richard Sterne.
England’s Ian Poulter overcame the effects of an epic journey from Hawaii to card an opening 66 which was matched by three-time winner Martin Kaymer, Lee Westwood, Soren Kjeldsen and Alexander Bjork.
Lowry has not played competitively since finishing 10th alongside Paul Dunne in the World Cup in Melbourne in November, but a lengthy spell of practice at the start of the new year paid off handsomely.
“I had a lovely break at Christmas,” said Lowry, whose 62 equalled the record set by Henrik Stenson in the inaugural edition of the event in 2006. “I was home for the whole lot of it and I came out here with my family and rented a house in Dubai.
“We’ve had it since January 3. Myself and Paul Dunne are sharing the house and we’re practising together and we’ve been playing a lot together over at the Els Club in Dubai and we got some great work done.
“It’s probably the best pre-season I’ve ever done, and it showed today. I’m just hoping I can keep going.
Qualifying for next year’s Ryder Cup will not get under way until September, but with close friend Padraig Harrington already confirmed as Europe’s captain for Whistling Straits in 2020, Lowry makes no secret of his desire to secure a debut in the contest.
“I’ve never played Ryder Cup and I really want to at some stage, but to play with him (Harrington) as my captain would be unbelievable,” he added.
In contrast to Lowry’s lengthy preparation in nearby Dubai, Poulter only arrived in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening following a 34-hour journey after contesting the first two PGA Tour events of 2019 in Hawaii.
“I set off 11:30 Sunday night, got to LA at 6:30 in the morning, nine hours to wait to get the flight from LA, 16 hours later land in Dubai,” Poulter said. “I woke up at six this morning, and actually felt okay. But the last sort of five holes was a struggle. I feel like I’ve had a few pints.”
World No 2 Brooks Koepka, who can return to the top of the rankings with a victory this week, had a 67, with defending champion Tommy Fleetwood two shots further back in pursuit of a third straight win in the £5.4million event.
Scott Jamieson was the best of the Scots after a 69 with Robert MacIntyre and Richie Ramsay one back on 70.
S
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here