WENTWORTH STARTS ROLLER COASTER RYDE’
There are four regular events left before the play-offs.
“It feels good,” said Harrington.
“It was nice to win at the start, get that monkey off my back.
“Then I started focusing on the Schwab Cup and the only way to catch Steve, he’s continued to play well, is to get wins myself.
“Three wins is nice. I think I have six more to go, but I’ll need to win again at least once if not twice to come out on top.
“Then you start thinking like how many Hale Irwin’s got, how many Bernhard Langer’s got.
“So there’s lots of goals, but it’s nice that as a young guy out here, it’s a new start, there’s no doubt about it.
“We’ve had our day in the sun, we’ve had our glory, but it’s nice that we can come back out here and we can wave at the crowds and swan around like we’ve done something.
“If we play well, we get to relive all those pressures.
“We’re probably not quite as good as we were when we were younger in terms of handling pressure, but we’re probably a bit smarter.”
SHANE Lowry’s victory on Sunday was his first PGA Championship triumph but came a day short of a year from his last celebration at the famed Surrey golf club.
On September 12, 2021, Lowry endured a two-hour wait before he was summoned to an office to be hugged by European captain Padraig Harrington and informed he was one of his Ryder Cup wildcards.
“There was all sorts going through my head, I was more relieved than anything else,” he said, a long time dream finally coming true. “I’m over the moon.”
And had he not been given the nod? “I would have been a lonely man,” admitted Lowry, who went on to fulfil his desire to contribute points to the team at Whistling Straits, although Europe lost.
That Wentworth experience was the end of a three-year qualification process.
Fast forward to last week and the DP World Tour’s return was the beginning of a one-year process, and Lowry, who just missed out on a place in the FedEx Cup’s final event at East Lake, was determined to make a fast start.
After two weeks at home, he arrived at Wentworth fresh and, on a course he loves, he went bogey-free over the three days of play to hold off John Rahm and Rory McIlroy to claim his first tournament victory since his British Open success at Portrush over three years earlier.
Instead of getting a hug from Harrington, he was fast asleep when the Dubliner tried to call him from St Louis — the scene of Harrington’s latest senior Tour victory on Sunday.
Failing to rouse his friend, Harrington jokingly called him a “lightweight”.
The truth is that Lowry has joined the heavyweights of the sport in terms of ability and consistency.
Straight
And with his victory Lowry went straight to the top of the European Points List with 835 points for the win, with McIlroy and Rahm on 435 points each.
The top three in both the European and World Points lists will automatically qualify for the Ryder Cup next year, with Luke Donald to have six captain’s picks.
“I checked my phone and had a text off Luke so I’m very happy!” said Lowry.