SHANE LOWRY IS six shots off the overnight leader after a one-under-par 70 in the opening round of the PGA Tour’s RBC Heritage tournament in South Carolina, while Séamus Power’s triple bogey at the last saw him card a six-over-par 77.
Leader Viktor Hovland fired a seven-under-par 64 to take a one-shot clubhouse advantage into Friday as play was suspended, while Masters champion Jon Rahm admitted to feeling some fatigue as he scrapped to a one-over 72.
Lowry’s own battling round saw him struggle on the greens: he missed five birdie chances in the range of eight to 12 feet during nine mid-round holes, eventually coming in at one under with a birdie at the last.
Power’s seven on the last exacerbated a difficult day in which he also found water off the tee on the 15th. The Waterford man’s mission on Friday will be to simply make the cut.
Norway’s Hovland, fresh from a seventh-place finish at the Masters, finished with back-to-back birdies to complete a bogey-free first round at Harbour Town Links on Hilton Head Island.
That left him alone atop the leaderboard, one clear of Brian Harman on six under. Jimmy Walker and England’s Aaron Rai were out on the course also on six under when play was suspended due to darkness.
A group of six players completed their rounds on five under while four others, including Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler, are a further shot back on four under, three off the lead.
But newly crowned Masters champion Jon Rahm had a day to forget after firing a one-over-par 72.
Although the Spanish world number one started solidly, picking up an early birdie on the fourth, his round unravelled with three straight bogeys on the sixth, seventh and eighth holes that left him two over at the turn.
He clawed back two shots with back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes, but then dropped back to one over with his fourth bogey of the day on 16.
“It was what it was,” Rahm said of his round. “It wasn’t anything — nothing was particularly good. Nothing was particularly awful. I would have been happy pretty much with anything under par, but it just wasn’t to be.”
Rahm admitted he was still struggling with fatigue after his emotional Masters win on Sunday.
“I hate to make excuses, but a couple of the swings towards the end were my body being tired,” Rahm said.
“I think for the most part I did a pretty good job. It could have been a lot worse, been very ugly. We’ve got it started. Just three days to make it back.”
- With reporting from AFP
