Esker links can bring it all together for Lowry
AS SHANE LOWRY prepares for the 117th US Open at Erin Hills this week, he’s entitled to feel he’s at a home from home. All about him in the Wisconsin wilderness, there are connections to his native Offaly. For starters, the spectacular inland links is built on springy turf left by a retreating glacier, just like Esker Hills, Lowry’s own course in the Irish Midlands.
With its plunging fairways, deep ridges and mounds, Lowry could close his eyes and imagine he’s back on home ground in Clara. Even the initials are the same, EH.
It might inspire Lowry further to know the original intended name for the links was Tullamore, to acknowledge the ‘great mound’ of the spectacular terrain.
The Irish connection became rooted in this pocket of southern Wisconsin after Irish 19th century settlers made it their home – hence the name. To this day, the town of Erin remains a devoutly Catholic enclave more famous for its Holy Hill Shrine, from where you can see the skyscrapers of Milwaukee, than as a golfer’s paradise.
And if Lowry is in contention next Sunday, he won’t have a problem finding morning Mass somewhere.
The course design could have been tailor-made for Lowry’s eye, soft-hands and svelte technique, especially around the green. It’s a further plus that he will tee up on Thursday in decent form, having followed sixth place in the PGA Championship at Wentworth with 13th in the Memorial last week.
The burst of form is timely for he’s bound to be asked about the draining events in Oakmont a year ago, when he let a four-shot lead slip after playing imperiously for 54 holes.
At least, it will be easier to reflect on the week that was from a position of relative strength. Had he pitched up without a decent finish to his name in 2017, the vultures would be swooping.
With a ninth at Chambers Bay in 2015, and a second at Oakmont last year, Lowry has no reason to fear what lies ahead. Instead, he should embrace it, especially if his putter is on a good week. Having ticked off a WGC event, the Bridgestone Invitational in 2015, Lowry knows he has the game to win a major; it’s all about bringing it to boil on Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine.
Like Lowry, Rory McIlroy will appreciate the visuals. Unlike Lowry, however, McIlroy is seriously under-cooked. This will be his ninth US Open. So far, he’s recorded three top-10 finishes, and one win, in Congressional in 2011, where he arrived on the world stage with rounds of 65, 66, 68 and 69.
That summer, McIlroy played three events between the Masters and the US Open; in 2015, where he tied ninth alongside Lowry, he contested four events in preparation.
In contrast, this week he arrives having signed the fewest scorecards of anyone in this field in 2017. He’s taken two enforced breaks for a rib muscle problem, either side of his marriage to Erica Stoll. With new clubs yet to be tested in the heat of US Open battle, McIlroy will require something extra special to figure in the shake-up.
He is not as battle-hardened in 2017 as the holder Dustin Johnson, a resurgent Jordan Spieth, or Masters champ Sergio Garcia, and that’s a concern. The key for McIlroy is a fast start, for he is a superb front-runner – in four majors wins he shot 67 or better in the first round and never looked back.
This will be his ninth major since he won the 2014 US PGA in Valhalla. It’s not a huge gap between major triumphs, but it is widening.
For all of his ball-striking skills, and driving strengths, the dearth of high-end competition counts against McIlroy and a win here would be a strike against the head.
It would shock too if Graeme McDowell figured on a 7,600-yard course. G-Mac had a practice round at Erin Hills last week and posted a snap of himself on the 18th, which measures 670 yards. He attached an emoji of a contorted face.
Ranked 185th in driving distance with an average of 278 yards, McDowell will concede huge ground to others but the 2010 US Open champion is in decent form.
Making up the Irish fourball is Paul Dunne, who is contesting his first US Open, and first Major in the States after qualifying at Walton Heath last month. Should there be an Irish win this week, the headline is written already: Erin go bragh.