Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy navigated difficult circumstances to place themselves in rivalry after the primary spherical of Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Florida.
Eire’s Lowry carded a three-under par 69 to take a seat in a tie for second alongside Keegan Bradley, Corey Conners and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.
World quantity two McIlroy, completed with a 70, three pictures adrift of American chief Wyndham Clark, who knocked in three birdies within the remaining six holes to signal for a five-under 67.
Nevertheless, Lowry and Northern Eire’s McIlroy, each dropped a shot on the 18th on a day when excessive winds restricted scoring and solely 14 gamers broke par.
American Wyndham Clark navigated the problem posed by the robust winds one of the best, knocking in three birdies within the remaining six holes to ascertain a two-shot lead at 5 below.
England’s Justin Rose had briefly led on the entrance 9 however ended up on two below together with McIlroy after pushing his tee shot out of bounds on the ninth the place he carded a double bogey.
World primary Scottie Scheffler, who gained this match 12 months in the past posted a 71 and is alongside Justin Thomas, who recovered from the nightmare begin of two double bogeys in his opening 4 holes.
Nevertheless, others to wrestle included former US open winner Matt Fitzpatrick, who ran up a quadruple-bogey eight on the par-four eleventh gap as he shot a 78.
Reigning Open champion Xander Schauffele fared solely marginally higher, dropping six pictures within the first 10 holes of his spherical to complete one stroke higher off than the Englishman.
