Pumped-up Lowry promises he has a major plan for next year
In-form Lowry sets sights on McIlroy in Race to Dubai
ASMILING Shane Lowry pitched up to Croke Park yesterday, to sprinkle some of his stardust on Offaly GAA’s fund-raising drive for their new Centre of Excellence. And the man currently ranked the 18th best golfer on the planet gave the i mpression of s omeone who’s completely at ease with the world. As he should be.
It’s two months since his sensational win at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational but the self-belief garnered from that win is still bubbling through every fibre of Lowry’s being. He took a few weeks off in September, to bask in the biggest win of his career.
‘I probably enjoyed myself a bit too much, but it was hard not to after a win like that,’ he says with a grin.
However, he picked up where he left off. His game was purring in Woburn last weekend and if a couple of more putts had fallen, he would have added the British Masters title to his WGC. But the 28-year-old is sitting pretty in fourth place on the Road to Dubai and has his sights set on catching his friend, Rory McIlroy.
‘I am half a million euros behind Rory. I don’t know what tournaments he is playing in between now and Dubai but I definitely would love to have a crack at it in Dubai. If I win the Race to Dubai tournament, I can win the race itself. That’s where I’m at.’
Following his six-week break, he stuttered in his first round back at the Alfred Dunhill Championships, as t he draw placed him at Carnoustie in the first round.
‘I went to the Dunhill and felt I could win but Carnoustie is not a great course to play on the first day back after six weeks off. It was always going to be tough.
‘But I shot 14 under par in the next three days and going into the British Masters, I was so confident. I played nine holes last Tuesday and didn’t miss a shot.
‘Speaking to Conor [Ridge, his manager] I told him I think I am going to win this week. And I never say that.
‘I feel I should have won last week, but I’ve definitely kicked on. I am playing with so much confidence now. There are times when golf comes easy and times when it is hard. At the minute, it feels like the game is easy for me. But I need to kick on.’
Aside from being fourth in the money list, Lowry’s rich vein of form has seen him rise to sixth in the Ryder Cup points table. He is nailed- on to make his debut in Darren Clarke’s team next year, regardless of what happens. When he sat down with Ridge on Wednesday to do out his schedule for the year, majors, rather than Ryder Cup points, dominated hi s thoughts, however.
‘I have a goal for the rest of the year that I want to achieve in my head, but I don’t want to say. But if I achieve that goal, I will be a long way towards making the Ryder Cup team, so we just have to see how the next few weeks go.’
It was pointed out to Lowry that Jason Day used his WGC success as the springboard to finally break his major duck this season and that he may emulate the talented Australian next term.
‘I’d definitely take Jason’s season next year!’ he chuckled. ‘I definitely have more self-belief the last few weeks and if I keep doing things right. I’ve had a great year this year. I won a WGC, fourth in the Race to Dubai. The next thing I want to do is compete in majors.’
Lowry is going to continue to play the bulk of his golf in the US in 2016. He will play in America until the Irish Open next May and the plan is to make the Ryder Cup on the world points list, rather than the European tour table.
The Ryder Cup is not the be-all and end all for 2016 though — the prospect of walking behind the Irish flag at the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympics is also right up there.
‘I’m not definitely on the team yet, and I spend a lot of time with Pádraig [Harrington] and know he would love to be on the team.
‘I want to go to Rio, I think it would be an amazing experience to walk out behind the tricolour during the opening ceremony.’
Sitting in a Hogan Stand suite, Lowry trawled his memory banks for some of the great days that Offaly GAA gave him as a child.
His first All-Ireland final was in 1995, when he sat in the Hogan Stand with his grandparents as Clare shocked the Faithful. Three years later, he had a happier memory as Brian Whelahan’s heroic performance saw Offaly beat Kilkenny in the All-Ireland final.
It was a time when the country was in thrall to that wonderfully talented Offaly hurling side. Now they are in thrall to a wonderfully talented golfer from the county, who increasingly looks like he has the world at his feet. DAMIEN McGRANE forced his way into contention at the Portugal Masters yesterday with a round of 67, leaving him three shots behind joint leaders Nicolas Colsaerts and Thomas Aiken.