Golf-Firestone a very different challenge for Lowry six years on

By Mark Lamport-Stokes AKRON, Ohio, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Six years after struggling in his first appearance at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Ireland's Shane Lowry has gained length off the tee and now views the hosting Firestone Country Club in a very different light. A double winner on the European Tour, Lowry relishes playing tough courses and with much better preparation for this week's this week's event than he had in 2009, he surged into contention with a sparkling four-under-par 66 in Friday's second round. "At this stage, in '09, I was 16 (over par)," Lowry, 28, told reporters after registering six birdies and two bogeys on a firm and fast Firestone layout to end the day equal second at four under, four strokes off the lead. "Now I'm a bit different. I'm hitting the ball a lot longer than in my youth. When you come back here six years later, I definitely was better prepared than I was. "My maturity is a lot better than it was then as well. I can get the ball around the golf course better now. It's nice to be out here." Lowry, whose best PGA Tour finish was a tie for seventh at the Farmers Insurance Open in February, soared up the leaderboard with five consecutive threes before the turn, including birdies at the sixth, eighth and ninth. "I was plodding around nicely, I was playing well," said the man who became only the third amateur to win a European Tour title with his victory at the 2009 Irish Open. "I kind of got sloppy enough towards the end. "Managed to make a great par on 13 from a really difficult bunker shot, hit it to like 10 feet and holed it. Then I hit a poor tee shot on the next, and I managed to make par there as well. "That's the key to success in this game. It's not when you're playing well. It's kind of when you hit a couple of sloppy shots, you need to be able to get up and down, and I did that today." (Editing by Andrew Both)