Another timely lift for Lowry
Having turned professional a few weeks after his famous victory at Baltray, Lowry banked €144, 843 by the end of 2009 and this year has added another €148,542 to stand 54th in the Race to Dubai order of merit.
That figure will have increased by the end of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth
tomorrow as Lowry made the cut yesterday on one over par. Should he finish no better than 65th, he will pick up at least another €10,000.
However, Lowry has his sights set higher than that and after compensating with a fine birdie on the controversial 18th after a double bogey seven at the 17th, made it into the weekend on one over par by adding a 71 to Thursday’s 72.
To go 72 holes in this company speaks volumes for how well he has settled into the life of a professional golfer.
Lowry agreed: “I made things hard for myself with the seven at 17 but the birdie at the last made up for it. I am delighted to have the chance to see how I get on against these guys. I had seen the scores on the board as I waited on the 18th green and tied 50th was one over, so I knew that would definitely get me in.”
He still had to hole a tricky four footer for his birdie. However, he wasn’t impressed with his striking in general.
“It annoyed me that I didn’t play great,” he admitted.
“But I did scramble very well. On top of that, I chipped in for birdie on 12, hit two great shots into 13 and knocked it six feet by and holed the one back before doing the same at the next.”
Lowry scrambled effectively but he couldn’t save himself at 17 where despite a great drive down the left the ball ‘somehow kicked left against the hill’ and he ended up with a seven. “I said to my caddie Dermot (Byrne) as we walked to the 18th tee: ‘what do we need?’ And he said: ‘probably birdie’. I hit a reasonable drive and for a split second thought about going for the green.”
Commonsense prevailed, though. Lowry laid up with a nine iron, punched a delightful wedge to just over a yard and tapped in for the birdie.
“I’m delighted because I’ve been playing well coming into this week and it would have been a huge downer to miss the cut here,” he said.
“I feel like I can go out the weekend and shoot two rounds in the sixties and see what happens from there.
“It is one of the biggest tournaments of the year and it’s good to get four rounds and see how I get on against everyone. I know I am as good as them. I just want to prove that.”
Only the future will tell whether he can go on to become one of the major figures in the Irish game but Shane Lowry hasn’t done too badly in his short time on the tour.
And given his natural talent, there is every reason to believe that he can go a great deal further.
The purists would like to see him shed a few pounds and he has been working for some with former Ireland and Lions rugby player Eric Miller on his fitness.
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