Slow start for Power and Harrington in Texas Open

• Published date: 05 April 2024
• Publication title: Irish Times (Dublin, Ireland)

As American Justin Lower – a player ranked 157th in the world and also chasing that last spot in Augusta – celebrated his 35th birthday with a bogey-free six-under-par 66 to claim the early clubhouse lead on the Oaks Course, the two Irishmen struggled to make any real impact in the first round of the $9.2 million tournament that offers the winner a place in the 88th US Masters. Power – with three bogeys and two birdies – opened with a one-over 73 that had him in a battle to survive the cut while Harrington, playing on a sponsor’s invitation, signed for a 75

Just over a fortnight after winning the Hoag Classic on the Champions Tour, the Dubliner’s return to the PGA Tour has proven tougher with the prospect of a second missed cut after failing to make the weekend in the Valspar.

For Lower, an impressive round – in which his short game scrambling enabled him to keep any blemishes off his scorecard – put him at the top of the leaderboard from the early wave of players with six birdies as he went about chasing a breakthrough win on the main tour.

Of acquiring the early lead, not something he is used to, Lower observed: “I don’t know if I’m the hunted at all. I’m still a, ‘quote unquote’, mule out here as compared to other guys, but I’m just trying to play as best as I can. I’m trying to learn as much as I can every day. I find myself watching guys on the range just to see if I can pick anything up, stuff like that, and around the greens especially. I’ve learned a lot and I feel like I’m kind of coming into my own finally.”

Lower held a two strokes clubhouse lead on world number 10 Max Homa, Denny McCarthy and Tyson Alexander.

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