Shane Lowry carded a course-record 62 to take control of the Irish Open, while defending champion Rory McIlroy struggled with his putting at Doonbeg.

Lowry started with two pars before a hat-trick of birdies from the third. After a par on the sixth, he drained a 24-foot putt for birdie on the seventh and closed his front nine with two more birdies for a six-under 30. He scrambled for par at 10, then birdied 11 and 12 to raise hopes of a 59. A three-putt bogey on 13 ended that, but he birdied 15 to reach -11 and finished with three pars.

"I thought about it," Lowry said of a sub-60 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 added: "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."