Shane Lowry's 'very solid' Masters prep in full swing

Shane Lowry's coach Neil Manchip believes the world number 12 has all the attributes to take possession of a Green Jacket.

Sat, 05 Apr, 2025 - 06:41

Simon Lewis

Shane Lowry heads into his 10th Masters appearance on Thursday with his coach believing the world number 12 has all the attributes to take possession of a Green Jacket. The Irishman just needs to put it all together over four rounds at Augusta National.

The 38-year-old from Clara, Co. Offaly has been reacquainting himself with the hallowed Georgia course for a week already and Neil Manchip will follow his charge up Magnolia Lane tomorrow for the final phase of preparations with Lowry having reached the highest world ranking of his career to date having recorded four top-20 finishes on the PGA Tour in his most recent starts to add to the runner-up finish at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February.

“His level of play is very, very solid; very, very consistent,” Manchip said. “He’s been in contention a fair bit.

“And his 10th Masters, it's quite an achievement itself, isn't it? You think of the amount of brilliant professional golfers that will never play in the Masters, it's quite an achievement to play 10 of them.”

As to whether Lowry can add a Masters title to the Claret Jug he picked up by winning the 2019 Open Championship at Portrush, his coach added: “Oh yeah, I mean, at some stage, absolutely yeah.

“The game is there, the skill profile is there and everybody that's teeing it up there next week, all the players who have been there many times, will think that as well. So it's a matter of bringing your best game into the tournament and hoping for the best, navigating your way around the course as best as you can and try and take your chances when you can.”

A decade of experience around Augusta National has enabled Lowry to plan his preparations for the opening major championship of the season and Manchip said he had arrived on site and started practising last Monday.

“He likes to get to Augusta a week ahead because (in tournament week) practice rounds can be really slow out there, everyone practises chip shots and putts from all angles.

“So he gets there the week before, a couple of 18 holes and it makes it a bit easier for next week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. You can take your time a bit more and play the Par-3 on the Wednesday. He’ll be playing nine holes Monday, Tuesday – just really look after yourself in the week and not overdo things, especially at major championships. There’s a lot going on and it’s easy to do too much. You’re training not only to get off to a good start on Thursday but you’re training to be fresh for Sunday as well.

“So I think a lot of that comes from experience and this will be Shane’s 10th Masters, so he know the run of the place at this stage and it’s just a matter of getting the game in good shape and getting your head in good shape and getting ready to go next Thursday.

“It’s a beautiful environment and I’m really looking forward to getting there on Sunday, early afternoon.

“Hit a few balls, walk around the course, hit a few wedge shots, lay-up shots on the 13th and 15th, Shane will practise those quite a lot, just to get some good angles going into greens and just go through some of the finer detail that you might not get as much time to do on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. And free up some time on those days and get ready for the start.”