Lowry must embrace routine and measurement

He has watched his great friend and rival Rory McIlroy win three major championships already.

In that time he has also watched him become the world’s top-ranked golfer, not once but twice, and Paul McGinley rates him highly enough to talk about him in terms of his possible participation on his Ryder Cup team, but as Shane Lowry went out to compete in the first round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla yesterday, he remains somewhat of an enigma.

Over the past couple of seasons he has openly spoken about wanting to move his game onto the next level, to be more competitive where it matters most on the world’s stage. But wanting is one thing, achieving it is altogether another.