With every aspect of his game firing on all cylinders, Lowry carded two pars to start before stringing together three consecutive birdies beginning at the third hole.
Following a par on the sixth, the 2019 Open champion sank a 24-foot putt for birdie on the seventh and added two more birdies to close out the front nine at six-under 30.
The world number 53, who hasn’t recorded a top-20 finish since February, scrambled par at the par-five 10th after escaping thick rough and converting a 10-footer.
Birdies at 11 and 12 raised hopes of carding a 59 at the par-70 venue before a costly three-putt bogey at 13 from 18 feet slowed his momentum.
However, Lowry rebounded with a 19-foot birdie putt at 15 to return to -11 before carding three pars to finish his round.
“I thought about it,” Lowry admitted when asked if shooting sub-60 crossed his mind during the round.
“Yeah, I did think about it until I three-putted 13. No, I did have a little laugh. Out in 30 and the back nine is only 34, so, yeah, you do kind of think about it a little bit.”
He continued: “I know I made a little mistake on 13, but I think I did a good job after that of playing the rest of the round really well and giving myself a couple of chances on the way in.”
