Lowe Leads at Long Island Open

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y. (June 8, 2021) -- After a long, weather delayed first day at the Long Island Open Championship Presented by Stifel, Matthew Lowe owns the lead, shooting a 7-under-par round of 63. Lowe came out hot, making birdies on his first five holes of the day. He attributed his success primarily to his putting.

"I made putts for the first time in a while," said Lowe, who is on the way to regaining his amateur status. "That was basically the only difference, like ball striking has been a strength for most of my life...it's seemingly very rare that I putt well, and when I do I have to make sure that my ball striking is still there and today it was."

Related: Scoring

According to Lowe, another interesting factor in his success was a good day on the stock market. "I have a lot of money in Gamestop and I was watching it go up, everytime it went up I'm like birdie everytime it goes up," Lowe said. "And then I stopped looking at Gamestop and a couple bogeys and I'm like nah, I gotta keep looking at Gamestop."

Right behind Lowe are amateurs Darin Goldstein of Deepdale, who finished with a 6-under round of 64, and Daniel Abbondandolo of Brookville, who finished with a 5-under round of 65. They will look to make up some ground tomorrow.

Following the weather delay, six groups from the afternoon wave were unable to finish before darkness and will have to complete their rounds Wednesday morning. Play will resume at 7:00 a.m., and the second round's original tee tims have been adjusted by one hour.