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A relaxed Lowry Shane pulled a 67 under normal to open a two-stroke advance half from Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando on Friday.
The 37-year-old Irishman won six Birdies and a Bogey to go around the weekend at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge on eight under 36 holes.
Lowry has played the first two laps this week alongside the close friend Rory McILroy – a fact that he believes helped his strong start to the tournament.
The star of Lowry and Northern Ireland, McILroy, could be seen laughing and chatting throughout the round, and Lowry admitted that the proximity of his teammate of the Ryder Cup had helped to withdraw from the task in hand.
“If I play with someone I love and get along, I will have conversations in walking between blows,” said Lowry.
“It’s a long day there, so you have to occupy your mind in one way or another. I felt like we had a good time doing our job at the same time.
“You are there with one of the best golfers in the world, with large crowds, an excellent golf course, a good weather, what should not love? It is easy to get up for something like that.”
Lowry had advanced the ranking after having made five birdies in the first 13 holes before a lonely bogey on the 16th – a hole he had won in the first round.
– ‘Unplayable border’ –
But he recovered this drop with a birdie on the last one, coldly rolling in a 17 -foot putt right next to the green.
Lowry could have been forced to share the advance if he had not been for a late collapse of Wyndham Clark, the first round.
Clark seemed ready to go around the weekend at the top of the ranking, but stumbled with a double Bogey on the 15th after hitting his TEE shot.
One of these shots recovered one of these shots, but another Bogey on the 17th meant that Clark had to be satisfied with a 71 less, leaving him on six under the whole.
“What is difficult here is that you know that you are going to hit bad blows – maybe a water ball or in my case a balloon out of the limits,” said Clark thereafter.
“But what is difficult is that the Greens become so firm and quite unplayable limits. It’s just huge that you are in trouble, to minimize errors.”
Collin Morikawa and the Corey Conners of Canada are three ahead of Five Under, while McILroy, Russell Henley and Jason Day are another blow on four sous.
McILroy had another frustrating day, his 70 of two sub-values sprinkled with five birdies but compensated by three Bogeys, including one five on the 18th per four.
Max Greyserman, Justin Thomas and Keegan Bradley are five ahead of Three Under, while the title champion Scottie Scheffler has land to make up for himself in the weekend after having fought for a 72 peer-spole which left him on a sub-36 holes.
Scheffler’s day started well with a Birdie first, only so that the wheels stand out on the second par-three with a double Bogey Five.
Two other bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes left him three for the turn, but he recovered the section to make three birdies on a backless back.
RCW / BB
