Shane Lowry was made up to get his Open bid up and running after a tough few weeks of waiting for his Portrush defence to start. Lowry, 37, was the last man standing in the battle for the Claret Jug when the major came to Antrim six years ago. So an opening 70 for 1-under par for the championship was more than acceptable, especially with his round played in heavy rain for a spell. "Everything's great," said the Clara man. "I'm happy. I've fought with this round of golf in my head for a few weeks now. READ MORE: Scottie Scheffler shot draws out hilarious moment at The Open in Portrush READ MORE: Padraig Harrington's comments slammed by PGA Tour star – 'Stupidest freaking thing' "I knew it wasn't going to be easy. The 1st tee shot wasn't that easy. I wasn't feeling very comfortable there. I felt like I managed to handle myself very well. All day I felt like I handled myself really well. Crowds were amazing. Everything about this tournament has just been great. "I tried to kind of use that as motivation instead of sometimes you can put a bit too much pressure on yourself. I tried to use it in a different way today, and I felt like I did a good job with that." The icing on the cake was his 22-foot birdie on the tough 17th, followed by a 5-footer for par on 18. The last time he played the final hole in a competitive environment was that final round in 2019, when he celebrated in front of the packed grandstand as he made his way up the fairway with a six-shot lead. There were echoes of that today as he walked up 18 again, this time in the company of world number one Scottie Scheffler, who shot 3-under par, and Collin Morikawa, who finished on 3-over. "Yeah, I wasn't expecting 18 to be full with Rory (McIlroy) out on the course," he smiled. "The grandstand was full, nice reception walking down 18. It was pretty cool. Actually, there's an extra little bit of pressure on that 5-footer. It would have been disappointing to miss that. Yeah, look, like I said, the crowd has been amazing all week. I won the last time here, and I'm trying to use it to my advantage." With the first round clubhouse leaders at 4-under par late in the afternoon, Lowry felt that was a very good score in the conditions But he is well in the mix for the challenging test still to come. "I think anything under par is pretty good today," Lowry said. "Like today, for example, the 11th hole was like the worst hole to get the weather we got. "We all really struggled, and I fortunately made a great putt for par. I think there's going to be certain times in the tournament where that's going to happen, and you just need to kind of put your head down and battle through it and see where it leaves you." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.