Shane Lowry believes he’s mentally ready to roll with the punches at Royal Troon after he recovered from a potentially confidence-sapping double bogey six at the 11th and carded a two-under 69 to hit the front at The Open.
Imperious in 25 mph southerly gusts on the Ayrshire coast, he led on seven-under and insisted he’s got the “chin” to take any haymakers that come his way.
“I’m in a good place mentally,” said the Offaly man, who hit 15 greens in regulation as he mixed five birdies with one bogey and a double-bogey at the 11th, where he hooked his second shot into gorse on the left after allowing himself to get distracted by a cameraman.
The 11th was the only time Lowry looked even remotely flustered as he produced yet another textbook display of links golf.
After finding a good lie in the right rough, he sniped his second way left into the gorse, remonstrating with a photographer over some inadvertent movement.
He gave the ball up for lost and played a fine provisional to the heart of the green only to be told his original had been found and he would have to play it.
After a long wait, he took a drop and two-putted from the front edge for a double-bogey six and went on par the next four holes before finishing with birdies at the 16th and 18th.
“I got a little bit distracted on the right just as I was over the shot, and I kind of lost a bit of train of thought,” he said. “You’re so afraid of going right there that I just snagged the club and went left.
“Then from there, I hit a great provisional. The referee asked me going down, did I want to find my first one, and I said no. So I assumed that was okay.
“Then we get down there, and somebody had found it. So apparently we have to find it then, or you have to go and identify it, which I thought, if you declared it lost before it was found, that you didn’t, you didn’t have to go and identify it.
“I felt like through that whole process of that 20 minutes, it was whatever it was, of taking the drop, seeing where I could drop, and I felt like I was very calm and composed and really knew that I was doing the right thing.
“And I felt like (my caddie) Darren (Reynolds) did a great job too; he kept telling me, ‘we have loads of time; we don’t need to rush this; we just need to do the right thing here’.
“To be honest, I was happy enough leaving there with a six. It wasn’t a disaster. I was still leading the tournament.”
A six at the 11th might have derailed a less resilient player but Lowry was superb from there and followed four pars with birdies at the 16th and 18th to put himself in a commanding position at halfway.
“I think the 12th hole for me was key,” he said. “12 was playing very difficult, straight into the wind. I hit driver, 4-iron there too, the best shots I’ve hit all week, to about 30 feet and made par there.
“From then on, I felt like down out of the left coming in, it was playing quite difficult, but I felt like you could give yourself chances on the way in, and that’s what I did.”
Asked if, in boxing parlance, he felt he had a good chin, he smiled and said: “Yeah. I’ve faced a lot of s**t over the years. I feel like mentally I’m in a good place.”
Assessing his round overall, he said: “I felt like I went out there, I was in control of my ball, did all the right things for a lot of the round. Then, when I got in a bit of trouble, I felt like I really finished the round well.
“I’m pretty happy with the day. To be leading this tournament after two days, it’s why you come here, it’s why we’re here.
“Yeah, I’ll sit back and watch a bit of golf in the afternoon and see where it leaves me come the end of the day, and get out there tomorrow.
The job tomorrow as well is to try to put myself in a position to win this tournament on Sunday, and that’s what I’ll try and do.”
The 2019 champion got off to the perfect start, making a nine-footer for an opening birdie to join overnight leader Dan Brown at the top on six-under.
He had a chance from eight feet at the third but was soon out in front on his own as he zipped his 82-yard third back to a few inches at the par-five fourth and tapped in to get to seven-under.
He eventually made his first bogey of the week at the par-three third, where he was bunkered short of the green. But while he missed a 10-footer for birdie at the sixth, he made two at the Postage Stamp from 11 feet to turn in two-under.
After taking six at the 11th, he hit solid shots at the 12th and 13th, then made an eight-footer for par at the 197-yard 14th before making birdie at the par-five 16th to get back to six-under.
He almost got to seven-under at the 17th, where his 55-footer shaved the edge of the hole before he got there at the 18th by rolling in a 20-footer for a closing birdie three.
Asked if he felt he was a good front-runner, he joked: “I wouldn’t say I’m a good runner. I don’t know. I put myself there in a few big tournaments, and I’ve managed to knock them off.
“So I’ve done it a few times. I don’t know. It’s hard to win tournaments. We’ll see. I’ll tell you Sunday evening.”
Returning to the 11th, he admitted he hasn’t always been so composed.
“Sometimes you are in a frame of mind that you get on with it better than other times,” he said. “This week in my head feels like that, where I think I’m ready to take what comes, take what’s given to me out there. Almost ready for anything that’s thrown at me.
“I feel like I’m ready to take it on the chin and move on. I just have to deal with it and try and make the best of it and see where it leads me.”