‘I am getting a few breaks’ – Shane Lowry proud to hang tough on low-scoring 69 opening day at Valhalla

Shane Lowry was proud to fight back from a bad start and keep his PGA Championship hopes intact by carding a two-under 69 on day one at Valhalla.

Even with a team win alongside Rory McIlroy in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans three weeks ago, the 2019 Open champion has been struggling to get what he feels he deserves from his game.

But after opening with two bogeys, he played the remaining 16 holes in four-under-par to end the day tied for 32nd on the lowest-scoring opening day in PGA Championship history.

“I was 11 back after two holes!” Lowry lamented. “I got off to a bad start. I was poor the first six holes and hit one green. And I made a birdie on that hole.

“But I stuck with it. I fought very hard, and I holed a nice couple of putts on the back nine.

“It’s been a while since I've seen something like them go in. It was nice to birdie the last as well and shoot two-under. That’s a decent knock out there especially being two over after two. I'm not overly happy with how I played, but I'm happy with the score.”

After following a chip and putt birdie at the 352-yard fourth with another bogey at the fifth to go back to two-over, Lowry started to turn things around from the moment he lipped in from 10 feet for birdie at the par-five seventh.

He made a great sand save at the ninth to turn in one-over, and inspired by making a seven-footer there, he started to get breaks he feels he hasn’t had all season.

“I feel like certain parts of the season, my driving has been very good, my iron play has been top class, and my short game is always there or thereabouts,” he added. “But I’ve always felt if only I could hole a few putts.

"A lot (of my game) went on me today for the first seven holes but that's golf. I am proud of how I battled because it's easy to get down on yourself.”

After rolling in back-to-back 20-footers for birdies at the 11th and 12th, Lowry admitted he was lucky to hit a tree and avoid water at the 15th and took advantage by making a 23-footer there for par.

“It should have gone in the water,” he said with a grin. “I am getting a few breaks. They are starting to lip in lads.”

He then closed with a sensational pitch-and-putt birdie at the par-five 18th and was pleased to gain some momentum heading into today’s second round.

“This game will drive you mad,” Lowry said of the irony of seeing some putts drop and his long game creak at times.

“I didn't feel the most comfortable off the tee or with my irons, but I did manage to hit some really nice shots towards the end.

“The five-iron I hit into 16 is as good a shot as I can hit. So hopefully, I can take that momentum going into tomorrow.

“I am just going to hit a couple of balls with (coach) Neil (Manchip) just to tidy up a few things. Then I'll get back, have some food, get a sleep and then get out there tomorrow and get after it again.”

While he won with McIlroy last month, Lowry has had little reward for some excellent ball striking so far this year.

“I am two-over after two, and I made a great par on the third, and you’re thinking, ‘Oh God, what's going on here’?” he confessed.

“Things weren't going my way. I had a big pull with my driver and my irons and seemed to figure it out towards the back nine and managed to play nicely. So yeah, it's nice.

“It's been a while since I've been a little bit upbeat about the score I've shot coming in off the course. I feel like there have been a lot of times over the last couple of months where I come in off the course, and I feel like I should have shot better. But two under was probably a good score for me out there today.”

Xander Schauffele set the pace with a nine-under 62 — equalling the lowest round in major history — to lead by three strokes from Tony Finau, Sahith Theegala and Mark Hubbard by four from Rory McIlroy, Robert MacIntyre, Tom Hoge, Tom Kim, Thomas Detry Collin Morikawa and Maverick McNealy.

World number one Scottie Scheffler is lurking in a tie for 12th after a 67 that began with him one-hopping a 167-yard nine-iron into the hole for a spectacular eagle two at the first hole.

Scheffler was tied for 12th with the likes of defending champion Brooks Koepka but he headed for the range after his round.

“It was a stock 9-iron,” he said of his eagle two. “I was trying to hit it right at the pin because I felt like if I hit it the right way, the shortest it was going to go was on the pin. I felt like it was going to go a little past the pin if anything, and it was nice to see that one go in, obviously.”

The world No 1 would go on to mix four birdies with two bogeys and while he missed two five-footers and headed to the range and putting green after his round, he was happy with his 67.

“Xander went out and played a great round this morning and I'm not really going to worry about trying to shoot 9-under,” Scheffler said. “I'm just going to go out and try to hit good shots and play my own game.

“I'd like to clean up a few of the mistakes. I missed two putts I felt like I should have holed today, but that's going to happen when the greens get a little chewed up.

“I'm just going to go hit a few balls, hit a couple of putts and try to get to sleep as quickly as I can tonight. I felt like there were a couple of things I could clean up going into tomorrow, but overall, today was a solid round.:

Schauffele’s bogey-free 62 was sensational and no real surprise to Lowry, who played with the Californian for the first two rounds at the Wells Fargo Championship, “I played with Xander the first two days last week and God, he was very impressive,” Lowry said. “But you know, as it showed last week, it's a four-round event so we'll get after it tomorrow and see what happens.”

McIlroy was sensational around the greens, getting up and down seven times out of eight to lead the scrambling statistics as his 66 left him tied for fifth.

But it was a tough day for 2008 champion Pádraig Harrington, who found only eight greens in regulation and signed for a six-over 77 that left him near the back of the 156-man field.

US PGA second-round tee times

US unless denoted

First tee

12:15pm: Rich Beem, Sebastian Soderberg (Swe), Kazuma Kobori (NZ) 12:26pm: Josh Bevell, Aaron Rai (Eng), Jordan Smith (Eng) 12:37pm: Andrew Putnam, Jesse Mueller, Charley Hoffman 12:48pm: Si Woo Kim (Kor), Tom Hoge, Alex Noren (Swe) 12:59pm: Y.E. Yang (Kor), Matthieu Pavon (Fra), J.T. Poston 1:10pm: Jake Knapp, Jason Dufner, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 1:21pm: Thomas Detry (Bel), Jimmy Walker, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) 1:32pm: Austin Eckroat, Luke List, Mackenzie Hughes (Can) 1:43pm: Sungjae Im (Kor), Christiaan Bezuidenhout (SA), Beau Hossler 1:54pm: Thorbjorn Olesen (Den), Brendon Todd, Keith Mitchell 2:05pm: John Somers, Brice Garnett, Jesper Svensson (Swe) 2:16pm: Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Evan Bowser, Alejandro Tosti (Arg) 2:27pm: Vincent Norrman (Swe), Wyatt Worthington II, Chris Gotterup 5:45pm: Doug Ghim, Tyler Collet, Adrian Meronk (Pol) 5:56pm: Larkin Gross, Lucas Herbert, Grayson Murray 6:07pm: Lucas Glover, Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Russell Henley 6:18pm: Ludvig Åberg (Swe), Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas 6:29pm: Tiger Woods, Adam Scott (Aus), Keegan Bradley 6:40pm: Rory McIlroy (NI), Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose (Eng) 6:51pm: Cameron Smith (Aus), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Viktor Hovland (Nor) 7:02pm: Brooks Koepka, Max Homa, Jordan Spieth 7:13pm: Tony Finau, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Sahith Theegala 7:24pm: Akshay Bhatia, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Bryson DeChambeau 7:35pm: Sepp Straka, Takumi Kanaya (Jpn), Nick Taylor (Can) 7:46pm: Andy Svoboda, Ben Griffin, Dean Burmester (SA) 7:57pm: Preston Cole, Tim Widing (Swe), Adrian Otaegui (Spa)‌

10th tee

12:20pm: David Puig, Thirston Lawrence (SA), Matt Dobyns 12:31pm: Tracy Phillips, Denny McCarthy, Keita Nakajima (SA) 12:42pm: Talor Gooch, Cameron Davis (Aus), Harris English 12:53pm: Jason Day (Aus), Shane Lowry (Ire), Nicolai Hojgaard (Den) 1:04pm: Min Woo Lee (Aus), Chris Kirk, Billy Horschel 1:15pm: Gary Woodland, Tom Kim (Kor), Joaquin Niemann (Chi) 1:26pm: Collin Morikawa, Phil Mickelson, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 1:37pm: Rickie Fowler, Jon Rahm (Esp), Cameron Young 1:48pm: Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman, Scottie Scheffler 1:59pm: Patrick Cantlay, Camilo Villegas (Col), Will Zalatoris 2:10pm: Patrick Reed, Sam Burns, Pádraig Harrington (Ire) 2:21pm: Brad Marek, Mark Hubbard, Maverick McNealy 2:32pm: Braden Shattuck, Taylor Montgomery, S.H. Kim (Kor) 5:40pm: Michael Block, Luke Donald, Shaun Micheel 5:51pm: Jeff Kellen, Alex Smalley, Ben Kohles 6:02pm: Ryan Fox (NZ), Josh Speight, Matt Wallace (Eng) 6:13pm: Zac Oakley, Adam Svensson (Can), Ryo Hisatsune (Jpn) 6:24pm: Adam Hadwin (Can), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Taylor Pendrith (Can) 6:35pm: Byeong Hun An (Kor), Alexander Bjork (Swe), Eric Cole 6:46pm: Adam Schenk, Corey Conners (Can), Nick Dunlap 6:57pm: John Daly, Lee Hodges, Robert MacIntyre (Sco) 7:08pm: Peter Malnati, Kurt Kitayama, Victor Perez (Fra) 7:19pm: Benn Polland, Zac Blair, Ryan van Valezen (SA) 7:30pm: Jeremy Wells, Sami Valimaki (Fin), K.H. Lee (Kor) 7:41pm: Jared Jones, Taylor Moore, Patrick Rodgers 7:52pm: Kyle Mendoza, Andy Ogletree, Erik van Rooyen (SA)

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