Quadruple bogey caps miserable afternoon for Lowry in Puerto Rico

Shane Lowry had a quadruple bogey eight on his 17th hole to cap a miserable opening round in the Puerto Rico Open yesterday. A five -over par 77 left the Co Offaly golfer a massive 12 shots behind the early clubhouse leaders, Argentinian Andrew Romero and Australian Cameron Percy .

Portuguese Open winner Lowry will have been especially disappointed after his stated aim of getting into as many US Tour events as possible between now and and the end of May.

He knows that a top-10 finish this week would get him into next week’s Tampa Bay Championship.

As one of nine top-100 ranked players in this week’s field, he would have rated his chances highly but bogeys at the fourth, eighth, ninth and 14th had left him struggling before the disaster at the 17th.

Americans Blayne Barber and John Curran were a shot off the lead at the Trump International club in Rio Grande, with Romero’s fellow Argentinian Angel Cabrero a further shot back, alongside American Bill Lunde and Steve LeBrun.