Both Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry were left bemused by a first round at the Amgen Irish Open that, for McIlroy at least, went past the six hour mark.

On a windy day at Doonbeg, gusts up to 55km-per-hour saw balls oscillating on greens as players clustered around the tee boxes and were forced to wait for the greens to clear.

At one point, Frenchman Frederic Lacroix saw his ball blown off the putting surface at the 13th, but he had fortunately already marked so was able to replace it.

For all that, both the two biggest Irish stars impressed, with Lowry who won the event as a 22-year-old amateur in Baltray, shooting a round of 67, for a share of second place.

A course-record 65 from Chilean Joaquin Niemann saw him finish the day on five-under, with McIlroy four shots behind him after his round of 69.

McIlroy, who won the event at the K Club last year, started with two birdies in his first four holes before getting to the turn in a two-under 34 – in three-and-a-half hours. He eventually finished amid the fading light, for what he believes is the longest round of his career.

“I can’t recall a round of golf that’s taken that long before,” McIlroy said afterwards. “We’ve had some rounds that are maybe five and a half or five and three quarters, but over six hours might be a first for me.

“That was tough, they were tough conditions and it was very windy. It was hard to get into any sort of rhythm out there, it was a lot of stop-start.

“Shooting under par wasn’t exactly what I wanted, but at the end of the day, I’m only four shots behind and not in a bad spot going into the next three days.

“You’re hitting on average, into the wind, three to four clubs more than you than you usually would.

“I had 138 yards to the last green there and had a full seven iron. Usually I hit my seven iron in warm, dry conditions, about 190 yards. So it just shows you, it was like an end of the wind, a 50-yard wind at least.

“It was tough, but you sort of just got the hang of it, tried to get the ball as close to the ground as possible and make as many pars as you can.”

“We hit two full shots in an hour out there” – Shane Lowry admits that the conditions were very testing on the opening day of the Amgen Irish Open as the wind played havoc at Doonbeg. pic.twitter.com/cfwEL2D7f9

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 10, 2026

For Lowry, the biggest problem he faced was one of inactivity as players were left kicking their heels, waiting for the groups ahead of them to finish.

Lowry admitted he was relieved to actually finish his round and he’s hoping for improved conditions heading into Friday’s action.

“It was a long day,” he said. “I don’t know what it was, I think we stood on the eighth tee and we’d been out there three hours, which is mad when you think about it.

“It was good to get finished actually, but yeah, I played all right. I was pretty happy, I made birdies when I needed to.

“It’s physically quite draining, when you’re standing around for so long, I think we talked about this on the eighth tee, me and John and Patrick – we hit two full shots in an hour out there.

“That’s hard to do, especially when you’re nearly 40. You just have to keep going. It’s the same for everyone.

“But there’s no point whining about it, you just have to get on with it and I felt like I did a good job.”

Watch the Amgen Irish Open from Thursday to Sunday on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player