<p>Shane Lowry. Picture USGA</p>
Shane Lowry teamed up with his old caddie Dermot Byrne and produced one of his best tee-to-green performances of the season in the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
After parting ways with Darren Reynolds after his missed cut in last week’s US Open, the Offaly man (39) joined forces again with Byrne, his caddie for nine years until 2018, and signed for a two-under 68.
He was five strokes behind Eric Cole, who fired a bogey-free seven-under 63 to lead by a shot from Matt Fitzpatrick, Nico Echavarría, Kristoffer Reitan and Ben Griffin at TPC River Highlands.
But Lowry could still be happy with his day’s work after he missed just one fairway and only three greens in regulation as he seeks his first individual win since the 2022 BMW PGA Championship.
On the DP World Tour, Tom McKibbin was five shots behind European Ryder Cup vice-captain Edoardo Molinari after opening with a three-under 68 in the DS Automobiles 83° Open d’Italia in Turin.
Molinari fired an eight-under 63 to lead by a shot from Chile’s Joaquin Niemann as he chases a spot in The Open at Royal Birkdale.
At the KPMG Women’s PGA, Kildare’s Lauren Walsh fought back from three-over after five holes to open with a one-over 73 at Hazeltine.
After bogeys at the first, third and fifth, the Castlewarden star (25) birdied the seventh and followed another dropped shot at the 13th with birdies at the 16th and 18th.
She was 10 shots behind South Korea’s In Woon, who shot a championship low, nine-under 63 to lead by four shots from Alexa Pano and A Lim Kim.
Nelly Korda, who is bidding for her third Major win in a row, double bogeyed the 16th and shot a two-under 70.
Meanwhile, Pádraig Harrington admits he’s feeling under pressure to win the Dick’s Open for the fourth time running when he tees it up with Darren Clarke and Steve Stricker at En-Joie Golf Course in New York.
The Dubliner won in Endicott in 2022, ‘23 and ‘24, and after being forced to miss out last year due to a clash of dates, he’s keen to get back into action after missing the cut in last week’s US Open at Shinnecock Hills.
“I’m under a little bit of pressure,” said Harrington, who defends his US Senior Open at Scioto in Ohio next week. “Going through it in my head, [I’m asking] why did I win it three times? Does the golf course suit me? “Some holes suit me. Then there are some holes I kind of think, oh, they’re pretty tough and not quite sure why this one suits me so much.”
Harrington plans to hit the driver as often as possible and knows that, bar the trees, there’s little water or out of bounds.
“The holes that really scare me are the ones with white stakes on them,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of that here, so that’s probably one of the reasons the course has suited me.”
At the HotelPlanner Tour’s Blot Play9 in Brittany, Mark Power and Liam Nolan opened with three-under 67s to share 16th, four shots behind England’s John Gough.
Article Link: Solid start for Lowry at Travelers - News - Irish Golf Desk