Steve

Lowery

Ripe conditions for afternoon boomers led to the delay. Before golfers were forced to walk off, Steve Lowery posted a 6-under-par 34-32=66 in his opening round. He split 11 (of 14) fairways and hit 14 greens at Annandale. The 51-year-old was 3-under through 15 holes, and then jarred a 29-yarder for eagle at the par-5 seventh. He chased it with a birdie conversion of 43'1" at the eighth and finished two strokes off the clubhouse lead.

Since outlasting Vijay Singh in a playoff at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am two years ago, Lowery has just one top-10 finish, and that was at the Memorial four months later. He’s all but become irrelevant in the fantasy game since, so accept today’s effort with a grain of salt. The 49-year-old hit 13 greens and carded six birdies, including a 14'4" effort at the par-3 16th hole. He finished two swings adrift of the clubhouse lead.

He’s two shots up on Bo Van Pelt and three up on Davis Love III, Carl Pettersson and Bernhard Langer.

The 54-year-old started the week as the 11th alternate. A spot opened with ninth alternate Blaine McCallister turned it down. Three alternates have taken a pass already this week. Lowery’s last PGA TOUR start resulted in a missed cut at the 2013 Sanderson Farms Championship. He’s done all right for himself on the Champions Tour, but hasn’t lifted a trophy in 87 starts.

He started the week no higher than 16th alternate, but got in when Guy Boros withdrew. However, both guys are slated to peg it at this week’s Shaw Charity Classic on the Champions Tour where Lowery ranks 53rd in earnings. So, if your format includes the 50-and-older crowd, don’t hold your breath that Lowery will make the trip to Reno.

Lowery has played poorly since his T-12 at the Stanford St. Jude in early June. He has been replace in the field by Len Mattiace, who has miss all six of his cuts this year.

Lowery injured his left wrist at FBR Open and couldn’t play again until the Wachovia Championship. He has been granted a Minor Medical Extension and has eight events in 2008 to earn $282,558. If he can reach that level of earnings, he will be then upgraded to a Major Medical Extension status for the rest of the 2008 season.

Wow, what a difference from a week ago but it should come as no surprise at the Northern Trust, where Lowery hasn’t made a cut in now five consecutive tries. He’ll get next week off since he did not enter the Mayakoba. Those of you that picked him up after winning the AT&T should be patient but certainly bench him now if you can.

The PGA Tour has a priority ranking system and those players that are in the Top-10 of the previous open tournament are exempt from the next official open tournament. The result is seven players have improved their status for the Northern Trust Open. Steve Lowery moves from the Minor Medical category to the ninth highest ranking, which is Tour members that have won on a Tour sponsored event in the last two years. The rest of the Top-10’s: 6th place Jason Day, T-7th Nicolas Thompson, T-7th Dustin Johnson, T-9th Tag Ridings, T-9th Brent Geiberger and T-9th place Y.E. Yang have moved up to the 23rd catagory, which is Top-10’s from a previous open event. Due to the strength of next week’s field the players with Top-10’s this week that want to play at Riviera will be put on the alternate list to get in the tournament. Even Dustin Thompson this afternoon with Tour Radio thought he would be automatically in the field this week, but it is a very strong field at the Northern Trust.

Lowery started the day three strokes off the lead and he had an incredible front nine with five birdies, including the very tough 8th and 9th holes. The back nine played tougher, and after bogeys at the 11th and 14th holes, he was able to take the lead for the first time with a 19-foot birdie putt at the picturesque 17th hole. He ran into trouble off the tee on the 18th, but almost put the tournament away when his long birdie putt bounced off the hole. In the playoff, Lowery hit the fairway at the par-5 18th hole and after a layup was able to put his approach five feet from the hole. Singh sank his six-foot par putt and then Lowery won the tournament when he sank his five-footer for a birdie. The victory is the third in Lowery’s career and it his first since the 2000 Southern Farm Bureau Classic. The victory also changes his status on the PGA Tour from a Minor Medical Extension to full-exempt status through the 2010 season.