Lowry knows full well what Abu Dhabi can do
TWELVE months ago, a struggling Shane Lowry turned up here and spoke about rebuilding his career. Now he speaks about the Ryder Cup, the Olympics, and turning up at the Masters in April as the winner of the most recent major. And it all began with his first victory in four years at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship. ‘I wouldn’t have won the Open if I hadn’t gone through what happened here,’ said the Offaly man. ‘Not just winning again but the manner of it, leading for three days and then finding myself trailing by four shots with seven holes to play. I showed a lot of character and heart that day and the confidence I gained proved invaluable at Portrush.’ It is amazing what a win in the desert in January can do. Danny Willett won in Dubai and then went on to the win the Masters in 2016; so too did Sergio
Garcia the following year. In 2018, Tommy Fleetwood followed his Abu Dhabi success with a career-defining season. ‘I think it just frees a player up and tells him he’s working on all the right things,’ explained the Open winner. ‘When you think that one win each year is pretty good and then imagine when you achieve one in January. Straight off the bat, you’ve got momentum. Anybody who plays this game knows that a lot of it is built on confidence, a lot of form is built on confidence and that’s what I gained from here last year. I have it in my head what I want to achieve this year and the main thing is to make that Ryder Cup team. I’ve kind of set my schedule out... to do that.’ If Lowry is unable to secure a Ryder Cup debut in September it certainly will not be for the lack of trying, the 32-year-old posting a picture of his blistered hands on social media after a recent ‘bootcamp’. ‘I was trying to squeeze a lot of practice in, more practice than I normally do,’ added Lowry. ‘I managed a few blisters but they are somewhat cleared up now. ‘I basically had my trainer with me and we were in the gym at 7am every morning and we went to the golf course, practised all day and went to the gym again. ‘We probably left the gym at 7, 8pm and went for dinner and went to bed. It was like a little mini bootcamp but it was fine. It was good fun, actually, I really enjoyed it.’