Shane Lowry had it pretty much all his own way as he fired nine birdies in an opening round of 64 to share the lead at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship at Yas Links.
Lowry is tied at the top with Tommy Fleetwood, Richard Sterne and Kazuma Kobori on eight-under-par as he chases his second title in this event and first at Yas Links.
“It was nice, I was pretty excited when I saw my group, played lovely with the two boys. Played pretty well in the pro-am so was confident coming in and it was nice to play well,” said Lowry who is chasing a first win since the 2022 BMW PGA Championship and felt very comfortable again being paired with Ryder Cup teammates Tommy Fleetwood and Rasmus Hojgaard.
“I was paired with him in India and shot 64 the first day as well, something about me and Tommy!”
The Offaly man took advantage of the generous start with back to back birdies to open his round before turning with birdies on the seventh and ninth.
His only blemish came on the 12th when he missed a short par putt but that was sandwiched between birdies on 10, 11, 13 and 14. He rolled in a nice six-footer on the last for birdie to tie the lead and he was pleased with how he performed on the greens.
“I rolled the ball well on the greens, missed one short putt for par which was tricky. Hit my irons great and gave myself a lot of chances, I holed the putts I should have today.”
Lowry won this event in 2019, holding off Sterne in the process but despite being in the final group after 54 holes in the last three years, he is yet to post a top-10 at Yas Links.
“First three days here I have been in the final group on Sunday, I watched Paul Waring win here last year, I watched Thomas Pieters win. I just like the place, I see my way around here pretty well and hopefully I can put four rounds together this week.”
