Ireland smiling at QBE Shootout

NAPLES, Fla. – Wait. What are the rules again? At the unofficial QBE Shootout at Tiburon Golf Club, half the fun is playing three rounds of no-cut golf with a friend, and the other half is trying to remember what the format is that day, and how it works. On a blustery, rainy Saturday, the name of the game was modified best ball, and Ireland’s Shane Lowry and Graeme McDowell made the biggest move with a 64 to tie first-round leaders Sean O’Hair and Steve Stricker (69) at 18-under going into Sunday’s final round. “I feel like we both played a lot of alternate-shot golf growing up,� McDowell said. “I was going to say it’s a format we’re comfortable with, but I think it’s one of the hardest formats in golf, to be honest. Obviously having the modified alternate, having two goes with the tee shots, makes it a little bit more relaxing, but such a difficult format.� In modified best-ball, both players tee off, then choose their favorite tee shot and alternate shots from there. (The player whose tee shot is not chosen hits second.) Lowry and McDowell’s 64 was the best round of the day by two shots, and was only two shots higher than their 62 in Friday’s first round, which is played using the far easier scramble format. “Yesterday I was a bit confused at the start,� said Lowry, who has a year of eligibility left for his 2015 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational win, and intends to play more on the PGA TOUR in 2018. “Because, like, you just put your marker down beside the ball and you place the ball beside it, but it’s not exactly where, you know? You just get as close as you can. It’s a bit weird. “But it’s great fun,� he added. “Golf is pretty monotonous at times, and you’re just playing 18 holes, strokes, all year, and 72-hole tournaments. To be in an event like this, it’s great fun.� The final round will be played using a best-ball format, which is more well-known as it’s one of the formats used in both the Presidents and Ryder Cups. Keegan Bradley and Brendan Steele, the 2011 champions here, were in third after a topsy-turvy 70 left them at 16-under, two back. They made a double-bogey, rare for this event, at the par-5 sixth hole. The biggest surprise of the tournament, and the biggest draw, has been the team of Tony Finau and Lexi Thompson. They birdied their last five holes, shot 66 (second best of the day) and were just three off the lead. Thompson, who played here last year with Bryson DeChambeau, is playing from the men’s tees this week. Finau is a rookie in this event. Tiburon Golf Club lost around 1,400 trees in Hurricane Irma, but the course is not without its hazards and even a few sneaky-tough holes. Even in Friday’s birdie-friendly scramble format, three teams bogeyed the par-3 fifth. And unsettled weather that blew in early Saturday morning further strengthened the course’s defenses. O’Hair and Stricker, who have both won this event, albeit with different partners (Kenny Perry and Jerry Kelly, respectively), were hanging onto the lead until making bogey at the short, par-4 10th hole. They made yet another bogey at the par-4 11th, where O’Hair rolled in a 10-foot putt to avoid a double. O’Hair chipped in for birdie at the 13th hole to spark a run of three straight birdies, but their ball wound up at the base of a sod wall in a bunker and bogeyed the 17th hole, as well. “It was a difficult day,� Stricker said. “For me, I struggled a little bit to feel comfortable. We should have probably been two or three shots better than what we were. I put Sean in a couple poor spots. It’s just a tough day with the weather the way it is, and the format the way it is, it’s just—it’s hard to get comfortable. I didn’t do a very good job of that.� No team looked more comfortable than Lowry and McDowell, who play the same ball, which helps, and who have played in two World Cups together for Ireland. They didn’t fare very well in those events, but they had fun, as they have again at the QBE. They’ve taken some ribbing for being the only team to wear uniforms, top to bottom, but they’ve had fun with that, too. “We’re trying to get into the spirit of the competition,� McDowell said with a laugh. Since 1989, laughter itself is the spirit of the QBE Shootout, but there’s money on the line, and pride, and like O’Hair and Stricker, the Irish team will wear their game faces Sunday. “Shane mentioned earlier, we both haven’t won this season,� McDowell said. “You know, a win’s a win. We’d dearly love to hold a trophy tomorrow night.�

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