“LIFE IS GOOD at the minute,” insists Shane Lowry, and that’s in spite of the fact that the Offaly man is currently in the middle of what he describes as a “pretty average” season.
Lowry married his long-term partner Wendy earlier this month and with a busy run of tournaments ahead, there’ll be ample opportunity for him to ignite his year on the course.
He’s content, but “a few putts to drop would make things a little bit better,” says the 29-year-old, who fell away after an encouraging opening round at the Masters to finish in 39th place for his second outing at Augusta.
“I’ve only got one top 10 so far. Yeah, it’s not going great,” Lowry says of his 2016 form. “I feel like I’m playing okay so I’m still fairly optimistic about what lies ahead. From next week I’ve got four big weeks in a row. If I can play well for those four weeks, all of a sudden it can be a great season.
We’ll see. I’m pretty happy with the way things are going. I feel like I’ve been playing nicely, I got myself up there in Augusta for a while, although it wasn’t to be at the weekend, but I’ll learn from experiences like that.”
Lowry hasn’t been in action since a final round at the Masters which included a hole-in-one on the 16th — “probably the only good shot I hit all weekend!” — but a hectic May will make up for the recent respite.
A trip to Quail Hollow next week will mark the first of four consecutive tournaments. Lowry will then go from Charlotte to Sawgrass in Florida for The Players Championship, before returning to this side of the Atlantic for the Irish Open at The K Club and the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Further down the tracks, Lowry could be faced with a dilemma. The WGC-Bridgestone Invitational tees off on 30 June. Having won the tournament last year, he’s eager to be among the field at Firestone to defend his crown. However, a clash with the French Open could complicate that decision.
Rory McIlroy has already announced that he’ll be in Paris instead of Ohio for the week in question. According to McIlroy, playing at the French Open “will be the best way to get ready for The Open”, which takes place at Royal Troon a fortnight later. For Lowry, a trip to Le Golf National would also present an opportunity to earn Ryder Cup points, which won’t be on offer if he opts to pursue back-to-back wins at the Bridgestone.
“I really want to defend the Bridgestone so it’s just a call I’m going to have to make nearer the time. Rory coming out and saying that yesterday didn’t do me any favours,” Lowry laughed, “but that’s what he wants to do. I’ll see nearer the time.”
He added: “I don’t know what position I’m going to need to be in to play the French Open or play the Bridgestone. I’m just going to have to make my mind up and whatever I want to do… I mean, it’s going to be very hard not to go and defend in Bridgestone. It’s such a big tournament and such a prestigious event. I know the European Tour are very keen on all of us not playing in Bridgestone but I have to do what’s right for me at the end of the day.”
Lowry would certainly relish a Ryder Cup debut at Hazeltine in the autumn, but he has plenty of ground to make up if he is to force his way into contention for a place in Darren Clarke’s team.
If you look at it, I’m a long way out of the Ryder Cup team so I need to win pretty soon.
“But I’m just going out every week, honestly, to try and play as well as I can and try and win the tournament that’s in front of me. I’m not thinking about anything in August or September or anything about that. I’m doing my best to try and move up the world rankings, up the FedEx Cup and up the Race to Dubai. That’s all I can do.
“I’ve gone out every week, I’ve given my best this year and it has been pretty average. I’ve only missed one cut, which is not that bad, but I just have a lot of 40th/50th finishes, which is not great. When you’re making cuts, you need to be finishing inside the top 20 or top 10. You’re really wasting your time if you’re finishing 50th or 60th.”
A Ryder Cup place might appear beyond his reach for now, but Lowry is well placed to represent Ireland at the Olympics in August. The likes of Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel, Louis Oosthuizen and Vijay Singh have elected to skip Rio 2016, and while he acknowledges that an Olympic medal won’t represent the pinnacle of golfing achievement, Lowry is certainly enthusiastic about an opportunity he never expected to have.
“It’s obviously a lot different for golfers because for us it’s just another event,” he said. “We’ve got, whatever, 25/30 events that we play in a year. For most other athletes that are going there, they’ve been training for this for four years most of them, probably eight years because they missed out on the last one.
It’s a big thing for me because I’m Irish and I love my country. To walk out in the opening ceremony wearing the Irish colours would be amazing.
“That’s the reason I really want to go there. Obviously I want to go there and it would be great to win a medal. I think to go and experience the whole thing would be just amazing. I never thought growing up that I’d be going to the Olympics.”
Shane Lowry was on hand to launch the One for Ireland campaign in aid of youth homelessness, co-ordinated by the Irish Youth Foundation. This Friday (29 April) customers will be asked to add €1 to their bill when paying at the till at SPAR, XL, Londis, Mace, EUROSPAR, Applegreen, Fresh, and Starbucks outlets, along with many independent stores to help the 1,800 homeless children living in Ireland today. You can also donate by texting “One” to 50300 or visit www.oneforireland.ie.
