Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry reach agreement as they comment on Irish Open fans

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry have both praised the incredible support from fans after drawing massive crowds at the Irish Open. The duo were the main attractions during the opening round at a drenched K Club on Thursday.

McIlroy carded a one-under-par 71 while Lowry managed a three-under 69. Nacho Elvira, Thorbjorn Olesen and Romain Langasque shared the lead on six under heading into the second round.

There was a degree of frustration for McIlroy, who was on three under with three holes remaining, only to drop shots at the 16th and 18th holes. The Masters champion's group, which included Triston Lawrence and Kristoffer Reitan, was surprisingly put on the clock for slow play and felt hurried as a consequence.

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Nevertheless, McIlroy was thankful to the spectators for their support. He said: "It's been amazing. It's great every time I come back and play in this tournament.

"The crowds are unbelievable and it's obviously a pleasure to play in front of them. They create a great atmosphere." Lowry was in agreement, saying: "Yeah, they're great.

"The Irish crowds are great. We obviously had that at the Open [at Portrush] a few weeks ago as well. It was really nice. It's nice to play well in front of them as well, and hopefully I can keep playing all right and give them something to cheer about come Sunday."

Given the substantial galleries that followed his group, McIlroy believed the shock clock decision was unnecessarily severe. He said: "In all honesty, I felt a little rushed out there for the last 12 holes.

"We got put on the clock pretty early. And then the first official went away and then we were put on the clock for the last three holes to try to make time up.

"And it's hard because you feel a bit rushed, you're playing some tough holes and we obviously, our group, have to deal with a lot more than any other group on the course. So it's understandable that we lose time."

McIlroy, who is actually regarded as a speedy player, added: "I feel like any time I either come back to Europe or I play in some of these like one, two, three in the world type groups, we're always put on the clock for that reason.

"So I got a little frustrated the last few holes because I feel like it always happens and I don't think they use sort of common sense in terms of, well, of course we're going to lose ground because we're going to have to wait on crowds and wait on the two camera crews that are out there.

"And, you know, there's just a lot more going on with our group than any of the other groups on the course, and sometimes I feel like they have to give us a little bit of leeway and use a bit of common sense."

McIlroy was set to start his second round at 1pm on Friday. Lowry, playing with Brooks Koepka and Martin Couvra, was scheduled for 10 minutes earlier.