Shane Lowry’s opening round at the Masters was chaotic, with the Irishman’s -2 score not telling the full story of a topsy-turvy day for the Offaly native.
The 2019 Open champion was among the earlier groups to tee off at Augusta, playing alongside Jason Day and 2020 Masters champion Dustin Johnson.
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Lowry hit the ground running, carding two birdies to sit -2 thru 2, before a disastrous scene at the fourth.
Having reached the green in regulation, Lowry had a simple three-feet putt for par. Three putts later, he had carded a spectacular double bogey.
A three-putt double bogey from three feet has undone some good early work for Shane Lowry 😳pic.twitter.com/hShrg253L8
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) April 9, 2026
Another bogey followed at 6, but Lowry recovered his composure with birdies at 8 and 9 to go out in 35.
His chip-in eagle at the 13th was Lowry’s finest moment of the day, and brought him to -3 down the back nine.
Sublime from Shane Lowry at the 13th 🦅
A triple-putt double bogey and a chip-in eagle both part of a nuts first round at Augusta for the Offaly manpic.twitter.com/liZMyIZapl
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) April 9, 2026
However, another bogey at 17 would see Lowry ultimately card a 70 to sit three shots back from clubhouse leader and compatriot Rory McIlroy.
Overall, this was a more-than-solid opening round from Lowry, and he has only carded a lower opening-day score than Thursday’s 70 on two separate occasions.
It was, though, a wildly inconsistent round, with Lowry carding an eagle, four birdies, two bogeys, and a double bogey en route to that 70.
Lowry was overall content while speaking to the Masters’ media team, and delivered a brilliant line when questioned about McIlroy’s impressive opening round.
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Shane Lowry on Masters Round One
Shane Lowry’s close friend Rory McIlroy was tied for the clubhouse lead with Sam Burns at the conclusion of his round, a superb opening to his Masters defence.
With Lowry only three shots back, there are two Irishmen right in the mix – but he had a brilliant response when asked how it felt to be alongside McIlroy towards the top of the leaderboard.
“Yeah, he’ll probably kick on now and win about four in a row or something,” Lowry joked.
“Isn’t it great to see him up there? He’s a hard one to beat. I don’t know…”
Though Lowry delivered the line through laughter, it was clear that he finds the prospect of chasing down McIlroy for a green jacket of his own a daunting prospect.
Overall, the 39-year-old seemed content with his performance on day one.
It was pretty good, I’m pretty happy. Obviously, I got off to a great start…I was feeling great.
Then, obviously, a little mishap on the fourth. 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 really got me going.
I really felt like I plotted my way around the course nicely today.
Lowry would delve deeper into that par save at the seventh, saying that it was a pivotal moment which was born during his practice rounds, and which helped steady the ship.
“It’s funny, I was here last Monday and Tuesday,” Lowry said.
“Both days, it was the same pin on seven. I knew the read on the putt perfectly because I had a couple of days. To be honest, I didn’t think they’d use the pin in the tournament, it’s on such a slope!
“Yeah, I rolled that one in nicely and that kind of gave me a little bit of a kickstart for the rest of my round.”
Lowry, though, had a word of warning for his fellow competitors.
The Irishman said that he feared this would be one of the most difficult Masters tournaments in a long time, and would only get more difficult as the weekend progressed.
“I think this could be the toughest Masters we’ve played in a while,” Lowry said.
You look at the forecasts…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 rained out or it’s been heavy rains and it’s kind of helped us a little bit.
I think, before the week’s out, it’s going to get very, very crusty around here.
Words of warning from Shane Lowry.
The Irishman tees off at 5:56pm Irish time on Friday.
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