Lowry digs deep in Greensboro to keep FedExCup hopes alive
Shane Lowry
Shane Lowry was forced to dig deep into his bag of short game tricks to keep his FedExCup Playoff hopes alive in the Wyndham Championship at a soggy Sedgefield Country Club.
The former Open champion (36) is ranked 76th in the standings, with only the top 70 progressing to next week's FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis.
He made three birdies and a bogey in a two-under 68 that left him tied 35th, six strokes behind Russell Henley on a rain-soaked day in Greensboro, where he scrambled five times for par.
He was projected to remain 76th in the FedExCup standings in an event where the latest projections indicated he needs to finish solo 13th at worst to make the top 70.
Starting in the back nine, Lowry made an eight-footer for par at the 12th, then looked on impassively after he chipped in from 15 yards for birdie at the par-five 15th, having moved his third shot just a couple of yards from heavy greenside rough.
He would drop his only shot of the day at the first, where he took three to get down from the fringe, but then made three consecutive par saves from the second before knocking in birdie putts 12 feet and seven feet at the fifth and sixth to get to two-under.
Lowry's playing partners, Adam Scott and Justin Thomas, also need good weeks to book their places in Memphis.
The Australian bookended his five-under 65 with bogeys but had 10 single putts as he made seven birdies to lead by a shot from two European Ryder Cup hopefuls in Belgium's Thomas Detry and Swedish rookie Ludvig Aberg.
"I'm really happy with the round," said 81st-ranked Scott, who needs to finish solo ninth to make the Playoffs. "You know, we've had a good bit of practice in the rain the last few weeks over in the UK, so it just felt like another day out there for me today."
Thomas, who likely needs a top 10 to make the Playoffs, was not too dispirited by his 70.
"Even par's not gonna kill me, as long as it doesn't get too nice out here," he said.
Henley shot an eight-under 62 to lead by a shot from Canada’s Adam Svensson and Korea’s Ben An.
At the co-sanctioned Freed Group Women's Scottish Open at Dundonald Links, Japan's Hinako Shibuno made eight birdies in a bogey-free 64 to lead by two strokes from Sweden's Madelene Sagstrom on eight-under-par.
Stephanie Meadow was one-under for her round playing the par-five 18th but finished with a double-bogey seven for a 73, leaving her tied for 39th.
On the Challenge Tour, Jonathan Caldwell took up where he left off in the Irish Challenge on Sunday, made two eagles and three birdies in a five-under 67 to share second place with Italy's Matteo Manassero, a shot behind Germany's Marc Hammer after the opening round of the British Challenge at St Mellion in Cornwall.
The Clandeboye man (39) claimed a place in next month's Horizon Irish Open when he finished as the leading home player in the Irish Challenge on Sunday.
Starting on the back nine, he mixed birdies at the 11th, 14th, 17th and 18th with eagle threes at the 13th and 16th and bogeys at the 13th and 15th to turn in six-under 30 before following a bogey at the first with eight pars.
Conor Purcell, Stuart Grehan, Dermot McElroy and Niall Kearney were tied 34th after one-under 71s, with Conor O'Rourke and Ronan Mullarney a shot outside the projected cut line after 73s.
