Lowry hits form in time for Major
SHANE Lowry heads for Harding Park, venue for the 102nd US PGA Championship this week, sniffing more than the San Francisco sea air after a top-six finish in the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational on Sunday.
Four timely rounds in the 60s in Memphis, a first since January this year, bagged a $268,333 cheque and a bundle of welcome FedEx Cup points for Lowry who finished four shots back off winner Justin Thomas, the new world No 1.
Lowry dug deep on the 18th after finding water off the tee, as he speared his 183-yard approach to within two feet of the cup for a valuable par.
It was the highest PGA Tour finish of 2020, and the heftiest cheque too, for the Open champion who has decent form in the US PGA, finishing 12th in 2018 and eighth in 2019.
Graeme McDowell broke the par of 70 at Southwind with a closing 69 to finish tied for 35th ($56,111) on three under par, while Rory McIlroy’s 67 left him one one under ($46,500), tied for 47th. McIlroy has dropped from No 1 in the world to No 3 in the space of a fortnight behind Thomas and Jon Rahm.
Seamus Power’s final-hole birdie in the Barracuda Championship won by Richy Werenski secured a top-ten finish for the first time this season and a welcome prize of $95,375. Meanwhile, former Masters champion Danny Willett feels he is in the best shape of his career as he targets a second major title at a venue which evokes plenty of happy memories.
Willett reached a career-high of ninth in the world after claiming the green jacket at Augusta National in 2016, but had slumped outside the top 450 just over two years later after numerous injuries and a loss of form.
Victory in the DP World Tour Championship at the end of 2018 proved the 32-year-old was back on track and he was sixth in the Open Championship at Portrush last year before winning the BMW PGA at Wentworth.
After playing six of the first eight events on the PGA Tour’s return to action following the shutdown, Willett’s attention has turned to the US PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park, where he finished third in the WGC-Cadillac Match Play in 2015.
Willett topped his group with a 100 per cent record and beat Lee Westwood and Tommy Fleetwood in the knockout stages before succumbing to US Open champion Gary Woodland in the semi-finals and beating Jim Furyk in the third-place pay-off.
‘It’s always nice to have good memories of good courses and Harding Park is a brilliant course,’ Willett said.
‘For the lads coming from Europe it’s a very similar kind of style, really old, tree-lined.’