Shane Lowry enjoyed a day to remember at the Irish Open – despite an unusual self-nutmeg mid-round.Lowry’s first career win came in the Irish Open in 2009 when he claimed a stunning victory as an amateur at County Louth.Lowry enjoyed a stunning Friday in DoonbegGettyFast-forward 17 years and the Irishman is eyeing a second title in his home event at Trump International Golf Links Doonbeg this weekend.Following a fine opening round of 67 in some wild weather on Thursday, Lowry caught fire on Friday.He shot a stunning 6-under 30 on the front nine in County Clare to vault himself to the top of the leaderboard.Among his highlights, the former Open champion sunk a 23-foot putt on the fourth hole and then a 25 footer a few holes later to draw huge cheers from the Irish crowds.But his good work nearly came unstuck on the 10th.After a good drive on the par-5, Lowry pushed his approach shot into some wispy rough to the right of the green.Due to the long, wet grass, he had to take an almighty swipe at it but only managed to chop the ball straight down in front of him.It landed on the sideways hill, rolled backwards and went right through his legs.A penalty would have ensued had he touched the ball but Lowry took evasive action to nutmeg it.He then chipped onto the green and saved par thanks to a nerveless 15-foot putt and keep his momentum going.View Tweet: https://x.com/hashtag/AmgenIrishOpen?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwLowry would get back on the birdie train right away, picking up more shots at the 11th, 12th and 15th.The 39-year-old parred his final three holes to card a round of 62 – a new course record at Trump International Doonbeg – and leave himself on 11-under-par for the tournament.He said: “It’s been a while since I’ve had that much fun on the golf course.“My par putt on ten was my favourite shot of the day after getting pretty unlucky with my second shot.“It was nice, it was good fun out there. Got off to a nice start and just kept going.“I just tried to keep hitting good shots and holing nice putts, it was a good day.“The sun was shining, great crowds were out there and it looks amazing so it was nice to give them something to shout about today.“I know conditions are going to be tough tomorrow and there’s a lot of good players out there that I know are going to come at me over the weekend.”Lowry is eyeing his second Irish Open titleSportsfileHaotong Li and Jacob Skov Olesen are Lowry’s nearest challengers but the big names in the Irish Open field this week are off the pace.Rory McIlroy suffered a shock three-putt bogey on his final hole to be at 2-under after two rounds while Robert MacIntyre and Jon Rahm are just a shot better off.It means Lowry is perfectly placed heading into the weekend as he searches for his 8th career win.He famously claimed Open glory at Royal Portrush in 2019 and has since won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2022 and most recently, the Zurich Classic alongside McIlroy in 2024.