‘I feel like I’m doing all the right things’ – Shane Lowry awakens the beast in Rory McIlroy but he’s not afraid
Shane Lowry beams from ear to ear and pockets a couple of greenbacks after his 18-hole practice round with Thorbjorn Olesen.
He’s never looked happier with the possible exception of three weeks ago, when he won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Rory McIlroy and lifted him into the air in an outpouring of pure joy.
So when it’s suggested to him (tongue in cheek) that he’s the man who “awoke the beast” that is McIlroy in full flow, he laughs and takes it in good grace.
“I guess I did,” Lowry said after doing battle with Valhalla, the “big boy golf course” where McIlroy won the most recent of his four major titles nearly a decade ago.
Lowry has seen McIlroy in “beast mode” before, and Sunday’s five-shot win in the Wells Fargo Championship has many wondering if we are about to see the Holywood star finally put ten years of major near-misses behind him and capture that elusive fifth title.
Lowry certainly won’t be going out of his way to play a practice round with his buddy, not that he’s intimidated.
At Congressional in the 2011 US Open, he went out for 18 holes with McIlroy believing he was playing well and was so blown away by the Co Down man’s brilliance, he lost a little confidence.
“No, I won’t (be looking for a practice round with Rory),” Lowry says with a chuckle. “And that's what it's like sometimes. Even in New Orleans, I had to remind myself he was my partner.
“It's fickle, isn't it? After the Masters, everyone's wondering, is Rory McIlroy finished? And now, all of a sudden, they're thinking he's the greatest thing since sliced pan.
“Someone was talking to Harry about it after Sunday and he was asked how far away do you reckon he is. And Harry said he's never too far away. And he's not.
“I've played a lot of golf with him. Obviously, last week went better for him than for me. But I think New Orleans was great for the two of us. We both went out and played with a bit of a smile on our faces, and we had a good time. We've had kind of played within ourselves, and just enjoyed it.
“Obviously what he did last week, I mean, it's a course he loves. It's his favourite place in the world. I can't stress how good 17 under is around there with a double at the last and he probably would have parred it if he needed it.”
Lowry and McIlroy are joys to watch when playing well, but the Offaly man knows that he can never hope to match his former amateur teammate’s driving prowess.
“Where he hits his driver, it's a different game,” he said. “It’s incredible how well he's driving the ball at the minute.”
Lowry finished 24 shots behind McIlroy at Quail Hollow, a course he has no problem admitting ranks well down his list of favourites.
But that doesn’t mean he’s in Kentucky to make up the numbers, even if he is still waiting for a few putts to drop.
He can’t remember much of Valhalla from the 2014 US PGA when he carded rounds of 68, 74, 74 and 67 to finish tied 46th, 15 shots behind his pal.
“It's a big boys' course, that’s for sure,” he says, looking back down the 18th. “It's long, it's going to be soft and there's going to be rain over the next couple of days. But it’s old school too and I like that. The rough is not as long as it normally is. It's pretty thick but it’s playable. If you get a mid to short iron out of the rough in your hands, it's not too bad.”
It’s been a good year for Lowry so far with his win with McIlroy getting him in all the big Signature Events for the rest of the season.
It’s seems like an age ago he was fourth in the Cognizant Classic and third to Scottie Scheffler in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and while his win with McIlroy has punctuated some indifferent results, he’s not beating himself up about Quail Hollow.
“I played okay but struggled on the greens — the usual the last couple of months for me, seems like,” he says with a shrug.
“That just shows you how fickle the game is. Three weeks ago, Rory McIlroy was finished. Now he's the favourite or one of the favourites going in here. I think that just shows you what this game is. You never know what's around the corner.”
There are times when Lowry has no desire whatsoever to talk about putting but he’s quietly confident it’s about to turn around.
“Obviously, the win was huge for me a few weeks ago, but there have been certain parts of the year when I have been as good as I've been ever,” he says.
“For me going there last week is a tough mental battle straight off the bat. And then I got off to a bad start on Thursday and it's one of those. But, you know, it's the same old story it has been the last few weeks. I struggled on the greens. But I feel like I'm working very hard. And I feel like I'm doing all the right things.
“I know when things are not going well and I'm missing putts and I know the feeling I have.”
Drawing his new TaylorMade putter from the bag, he adds: “But with this, I feel like I'm hitting good putt, good putt, good putt. Obviously, they are not going in, but I do feel like I'm at that stage now that I've done a lot of good work over the last few weeks. And I honestly feel like if the putts that are just missing start going in, you never know.
“I feel like my short putting and speed putting is very good with it. It's just the mid-rangers from five to 15 feet that you need to be holing to get up the leaderboard, those are the ones I'm not holing yet.
“It's almost like that guy who hits the ball well on the range but doesn't bring it onto the course. l just need to bring it onto the course and I won't be too far out.”
Few players love a major as much as Lowry and as an Open champion, he fears no man.
“I love it; I honestly love it,” he says. “Obviously, I've got a lot of big tournaments I play in, but the majors are what get me out of bed in the morning.”
A quick glance at Lowry’s major results shows a penchant for playing well in the PGA. He’s had five top 25s, including ties for eighth in 2019 and fourth in 2021, in his last six bids for the Wanamaker Trophy.
“Yeah, I like the way the courses are set up,” he explains. “You need to drive it straight and be a good mid-iron player. It's kind of very US Open but not as tricked up as the US Open. And I love the US Open. And this is like an old-school style golf course. It's the style of course, I like.”
He might not be keen to watch McIlroy blast 340-yard drives in practice but that doesn’t mean he’s shying away from a showdown with the Co Down man or world number one Scheffler this week.
“It honestly doesn’t bother me,” he says. “I prefer playing with the top players. I really do prefer playing with them. I like a good draw and the top players to drag you along.”
All he needs now is to see a few putts find the hole.
“If I putt well, I think I can do well this week,” he says.
He might have awoken the beast that is McIlroy, but if he starts to see a few putts find the hole, Lowry knows he is as much of a thoroughbred as many of the other runners in Kentucky this week.
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