Shane Lowry wary of Quail Hollow but still thinks his best golf can contend

"I wish we were at a venue to suit my game a little bit better," said Lowry. 

His second place finish at last week's Truist Championship catapulted Shane Lowry into the world's top 10 for the first time. Pic: AP Photo/George Walker IV

Shane Lowry doesn’t like Quail Hollow. Or maybe Quail Hollow doesn’t like Shane Lowry? Either way they’re not a match. Never have been. If Wednesday’s offerings from the Offaly man were much to go by, this week is not overly likely to see this relationship between athlete and 18 suddenly spark.

In this game of ups and downs, Lowry has already had his share of them here before a live ball had been struck. He arrived off the back of a Sunday which left him so sour, seeing another shot at a title disappear down the stretch of the Truist Championship in Philadelphia. Yet Monday also brought news that the second-place finish which felt like no consolation at all 24 hours earlier had, in fact, catapulted him into the world’s top 10 for the first time in his life.

Things are rarely as bad as they feel in the worst moments and often not as good as they feel in the best. This is something he has to remind himself of. When biblical downpours caused a Monday washout, Lowry had an enforced opportunity to take a look at his Quail Hollow quandary. Maybe this place isn’t as awful a fit for him as it seems. Padraig Harrington told the Irish Examiner on Tuesday that he thinks it should suit his countryman a lot more than it has.

Yet for all his number-crunching, Lowry, who has made eight-straight cuts and four top-12 finishes in his last six PGA Championship appearances, didn’t sound like a man fully convinced by his own research.

“I have no record around here at all. You know, I’ve not played well [here],” Lowry said on the fringes of the 18th having playing the back nine with Harrington on Wednesday morning. 

“But I've taken a little bit of a dive into the stats on why that is, and it's nothing to do with my tee-to-green play. It's more the rest of it. I feel like my game is probably in better shape, especially that part of it, than it's ever been coming into this time of year. So I’ll try and look at the positives and work from there.” 

The course rewards long drivers. Lowry ain’t one of those. On its closing 18th he’d been well out-driven by Harrington, 15 years his senior. His own tee shot almost plugged in the soaked fairway and got zero run. When he reached it, Lowry picked it up and inspected it for a while, shaking his head.

Padraig Harrington and Shane Lowry walk on the 13th hole during a practice round for the PGA Championship at the Quail Hollow Club. Pic: AP Photo/George Walker IV

“There's been a lot of rain. It makes it even longer. It's going to be a good challenge. It suits a certain type of player,” he said with the air of someone who doesn’t expect to fall into that category. 

“Look, I'll be completely honest with you. I wish we were at a venue to suit my game a little bit better but I do feel like if I play my best golf, I can contend.

“I'll give it a run see what happens. And you know, if it's not this week, I'll dust myself off and I get ready for Memorial, and it's not that week, I'll just keep going like I'll always try hard and if I work harder then eventually, something good will happen.” 

The unexpected downtime Monday gave him a welcome chance to switch off after the day before when the Truist slipped away with a level-par 70 and a final-hole bogey to put the tin hat on it. He got to the nearby Airbnb which is Team Lowry HQ for the week and relaxed for a while. There was some light gym work and a catch-up with the Sunday Game. Perspective from the fields of home too, then.

“Sunday, I hurt a bit. I felt like I probably could have won that tournament,” said Lowry, still chasing a first Stateside solo win in a decade but with a more suitable US Open venue at Oakmont (not to mention the Open Championship in Portrush) on the horizon. 

"I should have won that tournament. And it's hard to win out here. So when you give yourself chances like that, it stings, you know. 

“I think I've realised that, look, pro golf is just full of ups and downs. Pro sports is just full of ups and downs. I think when you're going well, you need to ride the wave as best you can, take advantage of it. 

"[When] you’re not going great, you just need to fight as hard as you can. Thankfully, I've done that well over the last few years, and here I am now. I'm trying to ride the wave as best I can and hopefully there's a great day ahead of me at some stage in the next in the near future.”