Lowry makes strong start to title defence at Wentworth

Defending champion Shane Lowry began with a three-under par 69 in a solid start at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Lowry, who has in the past spoken of his "love" of the Wentworth course, began brightly with birdies on the opening two par-3s at the second and fifth.

He moved to three-under after firing his approach into 12ft on the seventh and sinking the putt.

His momentum stalled abruptly with back-to-back bogeys on 9 and 10, missing a five-footer for par on the latter.

He recovered the ground with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 12th, following it up with another birdie on a short hole, draining a 12-footer on 14.

Midway through Day 1 at the famous Surrey layout, this leaves him three strokes adrift of early pace-setter Richie Ramsey.

The Scot, who last won at the Cazoo Classic in summer 2022, was briefly over par following a dropped stroke at the third but made a blistering burst around the turn with four successive birdies between the ninth and 12th, before finishing with more birdies at the two closing par-5s.

FULL LEADERBOARD

His six-under tally leaves him one stroke clear of a quintet on five-under, including Conor Syme and Matthew Baldwin.

The group on four-under contains Ryder Cup bolter Ludwig Aberg, whose back nine contained six birdies but also a double bogey on 17.

Lowry was joined at three-under by Ryder Cup teammate Viktor Hovland and Tommy Fleetwood, both of whom are finished in 69.

Rory McIlroy had an erratic morning but birdied the closing par-5 18th to post an even par 72.

The World No. 2 opened with a bogey after leaving his approach short of the green. He got back into red numbers with birdies on the seventh and 13th before successive dropped strokes on 14 and 15.

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