Shane Lowry got back to work on the PGA Tour for the first time this year with a gritty opening round of level par 70 – two birdies, two bogeys to go with 14 pars – in the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach, Florida, where American Kurt Kitayama claimed the clubhouse lead with a 64.
Prior to the tournament, Lowry had explained why he’d played in the recent Saudi International on the Asian Tour and dispelled rumours that he’d been among those players to sign up for the purported breakaway Saudi Golf League.
“It didn’t really sit well with me,” said Lowry of playing the event in Saudi Arabia. “I signed a deal after The Open in 2019 to play three years in a row when the Saudi International was a European Tour event. It just so happens that deal ran into this year, and I had to play this year as well, so that’s the reason I was there.”
It was after he saw his name being bandied about as one of those players to sign up for the controversial breakaway tour being touted by Greg Norman that Lowry approached the PGA Tour to dispel such rumours.
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- February 25, 2022
