Irish Open: Rory McIlroy four off lead in tough conditions with Shane Lowry two off top

Rory McIlroy battled on against testing blustery conditions at the Amgen Irish Open to sit four shots off the clubhouse lead following a one-under par opening round, with Ireland's Shane Lowry two off the top. <p>Gusts up to 35mph saw balls oscillating on greens with Frenchman Frederic Lacroix seeing his blown off the putting surface at the 13th, but he had fortunately already marked so was able to replace it.</p><p>All of which made for slow going at Trump International Golf Links and Hotel in Doonbeg during Thursday's first round.<br />As the day wore on, a course-record 65 from Chilean Joaquin Niemann looked increasingly good.</p><p>Having reached the turn at two under, Niemann had four successive birdies from the 14th to put him in contention for a $30,000 (£22,000) bonus for the lowest round of the week.</p><p>Austrian Maximilian Steinlechner and Renato Paratore appeared set to make a challenge for the top of…