Doonbeg turned Thursday’s opening round into a test of patience as much as skill. Gusts tore across the links all afternoon, tee boxes backed up, and groups crawled around the course for hours, longer than usual. With that, Shane Lowry walked off the 18th green, admitting he had lost count of the hours. Yet even after a heavy day and late evening, he had a smile on his face.
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Speaking at the press conference, the Irishman was asked about his performance. He was quick to add, “Yeah, it was pretty good….. I honestly didn’t think we were going to get finished. That’s probably the longest round of golf I ever played, in a three-ball anyway. I’m happy with my score.”
The happy grin is rightfully in place. Lowry played the opening round of the Amgen Irish Open alongside Patrick Reed and Jon Rahm, teeing off at 1:45 p.m. local time. Gusts reaching 35 miles per hour swept across Doonbeg throughout the afternoon, and play backed up on tee after tee. Moreover, balls were oscillating on the green. One shot even blew off the putting surface before a player could react. Despite the challenges, Lowry carded a three-under 67, good enough for a share of second place behind Joaquin Niemann’s course-record 65.
He even shared his approach to the longest round he dealt with. “Look, you knew going out that you needed to make some birdies early on on those par-5s that were downwind,” he said. “I felt like I did that. Then when I turned around, I felt like I did a solid job of making pars and trying to get to the clubhouse as quick as I could.”
And rightfully so. Shane Lowry built his scorecard from the front nine, starting with a birdie on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th holes. He then absorbed bogeys at the 7th and the 9th to turn in 34. But the back nine settled into pure grinding. While he managed to add one more birdie at the 14th, he held pars everywhere, closing with a nervy tap-in from 11 inches on the 18th green to secure his par and sign for three-under 67.
That 67 for round one gave the six-time DP World Tour winner a tied-for-second place on the leaderboard. He shares it alongside Shaun Norris, Renato Paratore, Maximilian Steinlechner, and Adrian Meronk. Moreover, he’s just three shots behind the clubhouse leader Joaquin Niemann, who carded a course-record 65.
Reasonably, it is a strong opening statement in a tournament that means more to Lowry than most. The reason? Well, he won the Irish Open as an amateur back in 2009 but has never lifted the trophy as a professional again. Plus, a share of second on home soil after a round like Thursday’s could count as a solid down payment on that gap.
This round also adds up to the form he has spent months building. He called himself the best version heading into the week, pointing to an off-course workload.
“I don’t think I’ve ever done as much to try and improve myself,” he said. “I feel like I’m doing a lot of things right on and off the course.”
That work has also shown up across 2026, a season that already includes a solo fourth at the Masters, where he made the second Augusta hole-in-one of his career.
Now, how he maneuvers the rest of the week and at the Golf Links remains to be seen.
Rory McIlroy Grounds Through the Same Marathon
Lowry was not the only Irishman fighting the clock, nor the longest day for that matter. Defending champion Rory McIlroy needed three and a half hours just to reach the turn in his group.
That said, he surfed strong. He was playing alongside Robert MacIntyre and Brooks Koepka. He opened with two birdies inside his first four holes, splashed out of a bunker for his second birdie at the par-five 4th, but missed a ten-footer at 7th.
Moreover, McIlroy’s card turned choppier on the back nine. He found a fairway bunker at the 13th and missed from 10 feet, making it a double bogey that briefly halted his progress. But he was quick to catch up on momentum as he made a sharp birdie at the 15th to pull a shot back.
He now closed the day one under par, four shots off Niemann’s lead in conditions every bit as punishing as those Lowry faced.
Now between these two Irishmen, Thursday’s round at Doonbeg became less about who scored best and more about who could outlast the wind. Both leave day one within reach of the top, still three rounds to play.