Shane Lowry: 'This has probably been the second best year of my career after 2019'

Shane Lowry will be playing his first ever Tour Championship at East Lake

Very few golfers can deliver the range of expressions as Shane Lowry. On the eve of his first Tour Championship, Lowry flashed his perfect chagrined smile to a room full of media.

“It’s almost embarrassing that I haven’t been here,” he said of the PGA Tour’s annual season finale that invites only the tour’s top 30 players on the FedEx Cup points list. “I’ve been a pro a long time but I've necver been here. But it is nice to be here this week and I feel like my game is okay.

“It’s always a goal at the start of the year, and thankfully this year I got to fulfill it.” This year in particular was a big deal for Lowry to finally reach East Lake. All the exemption benefits for his 2019 Open Championship victory run out, and reaching East Lake sets him up for all the biggest events in 2025 including all eight signature events and that major championships.

But most importantly, his performance throughout 2024 – winning with Rory McIlroy in the Zurich Classic team event, contending and finishing sixth in both the PGA and Open Championships and contending in several other tour events including Bay Hill – proved to himself that he’s still got the game to measure up with the best in the world.

“2019 was the best year of my career. I would say that this is probably second,” Lowry said.

“I think it’s been quite a consistent year without too many fireworks. I had a couple of really good finishes in majors, a lot of top 10s, a lot of consistent golf. Obviously, I won with Rory. I would have liked to get one individually and that’s kind of still right on my list.

“It’s quite refreshing to be honest. I was turning 37 this year. 37 is not old, but I’ve been on tour a long time, and some doubt does come into your head. So for me to go out and perform like I did the whole year, I’m really happy with myself. And right now it just shows me that I still have it. To go out and compete the way I did at the PGA and the Open and to make all the cuts in the four majors, and do alright, I think it’s been a pretty positive season. This year has shown me that I’m still well able to compete at this top level.”

Lowry has a fighting chance to claim the US $25 million first prize for winning the FedEx Cup. He’ll begin the Tour Championship tied for 11th at 3-under par in the staggered starting-strokes scoring system – seven shots behind Scottie Scheffler, five behind Xander Schauffele and one back of Rory McIlroy.

Shane Lowry follows his shot off the fourth hole tee box during the second round of the BMW Championship

“I give shots to my friends every day at home, but my friends are not Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele,” Lowry said with a laugh. “It's new, but a good start the first day and you’re back in the tournament.

“I certainly don’t deserve to come here to East Lake and start on the same score as Scottie Scheffler. But it’s up to me to try and make that up this week. … In my head I’m seeing it as like a five-round event that I’ve got 3-under the first round and I’m seven back of the leader and I need to kind of pick away at that over the four days and see where it leaves me on Sunday.” 

Despite having never experienced any of the previous 22 Tour Championships at East Lake, Lowry’s hopes get a real boost from the complete course renovation that happened in the year since the 2023 Tour Championship concluded. All the institutional knowledge East Lake veterans like McIlroy, Schauffele and Scheffler had is out the window on a dramatically redesigned course that is playing firmer than it ever will, placing a premium on Lowry’s greatest strength – driving accuracy.

“It’s great to hear the lads moaning about it inside the locker room, and I’m happy with what I see,” he said. “It’s going to play quite difficult. If you miss fairways you’re going to struggle to make pars, and it’s going to be hard to get the ball close to the pins.

“It’s quite nice and quite refreshing that you need to be on the fairway to make birdies. The modern game is not really played like that anymore.

“I think I’m on a level playing field with the guys that have played here, like Rory has played here something like 12 or 14 times. He’s obviously won here three times. When you’re coming back and it’s the same venue, they do have one up on you if it’s the same golf course. But it’s a completely different golf course. So I feel like I’m on a level playing field with those guys.

Like everyone else as well, Lowry is tired heading into the PGA Tour finale. But his schedule has been particularly crowded as this marks his sixth tournament in seven weeks since the Open Championship. He decided to fly from the Olympics in Paris to play the Wyndham Championship before the three-week playoffs started. He missed the cut since January in Greensboro, but that at least saved him from playing the 36-hole Sunday marathon to finish.

“I wanted to finish in that top 10 in the Comcast for obvious reasons. I wanted to give this FedEx Cup as good a run as I can,” he said. “Going into Wyndham, I felt like this was probably going to be one of my best opportunities to give this FedEx Cup a run.

“Would I rethink it? No, I’d probably do the same thing. I like the Wyndham. I like the golf course. The weather was unfortunate that week. To be honest, when I look back on missing that cut and not having to do the 36 round before going to Memphis, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world.”