After beginning with 4 pars, Lowry – who’s with out a person victory since September 2022 – carded back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth holes.
The previous Open champion vaulted right into a share of the lead with a run of 5 straight birdies from the par-four eleventh earlier than choosing up a shot on the final to edge forward of Nakajima.
“It isn’t that arduous once you hit it in play on the market, however you begin lacking fairways it turns into fairly difficult, so I am proud of that,” stated Lowry.
He added: “You want to form it across the course, hit it in place off the tee and it is all about your iron play. That is one among my strengths and I took benefit of that in the present day and managed to roll just a few putts in on the again 9, which was good.”
Lowry added there was a “little bit” of Ryder Cup chat with taking part in companions Fleetwood and Donald.
“We might hear the horns from the street, it was not as off-putting because the Bethpage [Black] crowd,” he stated with a smile, referring to the hostile New York followers eventually month’s Ryder Cup.
Fleetwood combined 4 birdies, an eagle and two bogeys to take a seat 4 pictures again.
Donald, who’s taking part in his first event since his second Ryder Cup success as captain, carded 5 birdies and a bogey to match fellow Englishman Fleetwood and 2023 Open champion Brian Harman.
Taking part in with McIlroy, US Ryder Cup participant Ben Griffin opened with a 68 whereas McIlroy’s European team-mate Viktor Hovland signed for a 71.
