Gavin Cooney reports from Augusta National Golf Club

SHANE LOWRY USED his pre-Masters media engagement to stress the importance of acceptance and reacting well to setbacks, and then stress-tested that commitment across a rollercoaster opening round of 70. 

Lowry started beautifully, stitching his opening approach to the flag for a birdie on the first, which he followed with another birdie on the par-five second. Two-under through three, Lowry then made a hames of the par-three fourth, four-putting for a double-bogey to vault himself over par. (Though, to be fair, that double bogey will technically be regarded as a three-putt, given the first putt was made from off the green.) The wheels then threatened to come off when he pulled his approach to six for another bogey, but from there Lowry battled back.

He birdied the par-five eighth and then got back under par with another birdie on nine. There followed pars on 10 through 12 before he holed out for eagle from the 13th fairway. He played the closing five holes in one-over par, hooking his approach to the 17th way left and into a grandstand. He then benefitted from a break on the final hole, as another left miss kicked off a tree and back into the fairway. 

Lowry has only twice shot a better opening round at the Masters, and at two-under, he signed for his card three shots behind Rory McIlroy, who shared the early clubhouse lead with Sam Burns. 

“I got off to a great start, and I was feeling great”, said Lowry after his round. “Then obviously I had a mishap on the fourth, and I thought I did a great job of kicking on from there. I know I bogeyed six, but I made a great par save on seven and birdied eight and nine. That kind of really got me going, and I really felt like I plotted my way around the course nicely today.” 

Content with his round, Lowry was particularly happy with his reaction to his brutal early setback.

“You can hit good shots around here and make bogeys, and you just have to roll with it”, said Lowry. “I felt like I didn’t miss a shot in the first four holes, and obviously I had that mishap on the fourth green.

“You can get a bit disheartened or dejected by that, but I felt like I’m in a good frame of mind to kind of just move on from everything. Yeah, I’ve been around here enough to know that that could happen at certain stages.” 

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Not that things are going to get any easier. With no rain forecast for the rest of the week, the course is going to dryer, faster, and firmer. “I think this could be the toughest Masters we’ve played in a while”, said Lowry. “You look at the forecast.They can do whatever they want with the golf course this weekend.

“I think over the last few years we’ve had a day every year where it’s been raining or it’s been heavy rains. It’s kind of helped us a little bit, but I think before the week is out, it’s going to get very, very crusty around here.” 

And to compound all of this, his good pal is among the men to chase down. 

“He will probably kick on about four in a row or something”, smiled Lowry when asked about McIlroy’s red-hot start of 67. “Yeah, it’s great to see him up there…but he’s a hard one to beat.”