Shane Lowry wrote his name into the record books with a stunning burst of scoring in the Players Championship thanks to an “emergency” call to his coach.
The Irishman was level par halfway through his opening round of the so-called “fifth major” at Sawgrass before storming home in a tournament-record 29 shots to card a seven-under-par 65.
The 29-year-old, who has recorded just one top-10 finish this season, holed from 35 feet for birdie on the 10th and chipped in for an eagle on the par-five 11th before picking up further shots from inside six feet on the 12th and 13th.
Lowry also birdied the par-five 16th and, after missing from 10 feet on the famous par-three 17th, made his final gain of the day from 12 feet on the 18th to finish two shots behind world No 1 Jason Day who equalled the course record with a flawless 63.
“Being honest, I was not very confident starting this week,” said Lowry, who missed the cut in the Wells Fargo Championship last week.
“I had a bit of an emergency phone call with my coach this morning before I played. Things have not been going well and I did not feel comfortable on the golf course.
“I started OK today and then obviously got going on the back nine and it’s always nice to shoot 29 at some stage.”
Asked what his coach Neil Manchip had said, Lowry added on Sky Sports: “Just go out and try to play my game, pick some targets was the big thing and try to hit it at them. If it does not happen it’s not the end of the world.
“That was the gist of it and it seemed to work today.”
Lowry’s 65 was matched by former US Open champion Justin Rose, Bill Haas and Cameron Tringale, with Italy’s Francesco Molinari and Ernie Els among those a shot further back on six under par.
On a day of low scoring, Scotland’s Russell Knox, former champion Martin Kaymer and Paul Casey all shot 68, with Ian Poulter and Matt Fitzpatrick finishing three under and Masters champion Danny Willett a shot further back in his first tournament action since Augusta.
Starting on the back nine, Day began his round with three straight birdies and also picked up a shot on the 17th to reach the turn in 32, before covering the front nine in 31 with five birdies, matching the course record shared by Martin Kaymer, Roberto Castro, Greg Norman and Fred Couples.
Playing partner Jordan Spieth, making his first appearance since squandering a five-shot lead with nine holes to play in the Masters, had to settle for a 72 after taking five to get down from a greenside bunker on his final hole.
Day, whose last competitive score at Sawgrass was an 81 in the second round 12 months ago, revealed he was disappointed to miss out on the outright record after narrowly missing from 40 feet on his penultimate hole.
“I just played solid tee to green and when I got to the green I was very confident with my putter,” the 28-year-old Australian said.
Rose, who finished a shot outside the play-off at Quail Hollow last week, told Sky Sports: “It was great to come out today and get off to another good start. I think I hit 18 greens (in regulation) and gave myself the opportunities to make some putts and I was able to do that.
“I ordered a new putter a couple of weeks ago and it arrived this week, so it’s nice to finally get it and it felt good.”
Willett said: “I have not had a load of time to do a great deal of work so the game was not great, but I dig deep and hit some reasonably good shots. I would have definitely taken 70 yesterday.
“It’s been a bit crazy, it’s been a whirlwind. It was nice this morning when we were announced as Masters champion but it was nice to get back on the golf course.”
Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell were both level par after 14 holes.
Leading scores (USA unless stated):
63 Jason Day (Aus)
65 Brendan Steele (USA), Justin Rose (Eng), Bill Haas (USA), Shane Lowry (Irl), Cameron Tringale (USA)
66 Daniel Berger (USA), Francesco Molinari (Ita), Hudson Swafford (USA), Ernie Els (Rsa), Brooks Koepka (USA)
67 Jerry Kelly (USA), Danny Lee (Nzl), Gary Woodland (USA), James Hahn (USA), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Nick Taylor (Can)
68 Paul Casey (Eng), Will Wilcox (USA), Chad Campbell (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Russell Knox (Sco), Si Woo Kim (Kor)
69 Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Ian Poulter (Eng), Brian Harman (USA), Daniel Summerhays (USA), Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng)
Other scores included:
70 Danny Willett (Eng), Phil Mickelson (USA), Luke Donald (Eng)
72 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Jordan Spieth (USA)
77 Henrik Stenson (Swe)
