A DELIGHTED SHANE Lowry says he’s playing “the best golf of my life” after capturing the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this weekend.
Following a superb final round, the Offaly native held off a stern challenge from Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm to finish one shot clear of the pair on 17-under for the tournament.
Lowry made a strong start to his final round with an eagle on the par-five third, before picking up five birdies to climb up the leaderboard and ensure he didn’t drop a single shot throughout the weekend.
The 2019 Open champion has been consistently competitive throughout this season on the PGA Tour, and he feels like he’s in the form of his career.
“Yeah, I think definitely been telling myself this year I need to be patient, and look, Covid year 2020 was a bit weird, wasn’t it?” Lowry said in his winner’s press conference.
“So you kind of mark that one off, and then 2021 I thought was a pretty decent year. Felt like I played some good golf and didn’t win but was very solid. Had some good chances to win this year on the PGA Tour, and both times I didn’t get over the line. They sting a little bit.
“I think if I didn’t get over line today, maybe I do go back and start asking questions about what I need to do differently or what needs to change because yes, my golf is good but if you’re not knocking off the wins and you’re playing well, you might have to ask questions. I’m quite pleased for that; that I got over line today. But I felt like I played the final round today maybe different than I played the other rounds this year.
I said to [coach] Neil [Manchip] this morning, I just need to allow myself to play golf. I’m playing the best golf of my life. I just need to allow myself to hit the shots and go for the shots I want to go for, less being tentative; just go for it and grab the bull by the horns and go win the tournament.”
He added:
“I say it all the time, you spend your life and your career getting up early every day, working your nuts off to get in these positions and when you get in these positions, it’s quite uncomfortable. It’s not the nicest place in the world because you don’t want to mess it up and be sitting in your hotel room having thrown away the tournament and it’s not a nice place to be.
“Obviously it’s easy to say that sitting here with this but I did enjoy being out there in the hunt. Down the stretch against Jon Rahm and Rory, there’s no other place I’d rather be.”
Originally published at 16.30
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