Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry remain in contention after their second rounds of the Irish Open despite failing to take full advantage of the benign conditions at Royal County Down.
World number three McIlroy shot a one-under 70, the highlight of which was an eagle at the par-five first – his 10th – while Lowry had been on track for a 68 until a bogey at his closing hole.
English pair Laurie Canter and Todd Clements held the clubhouse lead at five-under after the morning wave with Spain’s Alejandro Del Rey alongside McIlroy a shot back.
After an opening 67, Del Rey reached eight under but plummeted back to the field with a quadruple bogey eight on the 15th.
McIlroy’s fellow Northern Irishman Tom McKibbin closed with a birdie to card a 69 and looks certain to make the weekend at one-over par.
McIlroy and Lowry stay in the hunt
Persistent crosswinds tested the players on Thursday but the conditions were as calm as they have been all week for the early starts on Friday.
Despite that, however, McIlroy played his first five holes in one-over, a bogey on the par-three 14th putting him on the backfoot before he picked up his first of the round at the next.
Having birdied 16, 17 and 18 on Thursday, McIlroy had to settle for three pars on Friday but he prompted a huge roar from the crowd with an eagle at the first, made possible by a booming 333-yard drive down the fairway.
“I wish every hole was that easy,” he quipped after his round.
That was as good as it got for the 35-year-old, though. A bogey five at the fifth after finding trouble off the tee brought him back to four-under but he is primed to be a central protagonist over the weekend.
So, too, is Lowry. Like McIlroy, the 2019 Open champion did not have it all his own way on Friday, cutting a despondent figure after de-greening his eagle putt at the driveable par-four 16th, leading to an unlikely bogey.
But the 37-year-old has spoken positively of how he has handled setbacks this year and he reeled off three birdies around the turn to reach two-under.
Six pars and a closing bogey, having missed a four-footer for par at the last, left a somewhat sour taste in the 2009 champion’s mouth but he is well-placed for a Saturday charge at just four back.
Lowry’s 36-hole score of 141 was matched by his playing partner Robert MacIntyre. The Scot, who won his national open in July having already clinched the Canadian Open in June, battled back superbly with five straight birdies having fallen to four over with a double bogey at the 16th.
MacIntyre’s countryman Calum Hill is two shots better off after a bogey-free 67 while India’s Shubhankar Sharma carded nine birdies and three bogeys in a hugely impressive 65 – the lowest score of the week – to catapult himself to within three of the lead alongside recent British Masters winner Niklass Norgaard of Denmark (67).
