Shane Lowry might not win his second major title at Valhalla today but the Offaly man clearly has the emotional maturity and the experience to get the very best out of his game.
Eight years ago, the Offaly man went into the final round of the US Open with a four-shot lead and shot 76 to finish three shots behind Dustin Johnson.
As a 29-year-old, he took that defeat hard. But he’s now a 37-year-old veteran with a Claret Jug on the shelf at home and given his life experience and his experience dealing with the ups and downs of tour life and major Sundays in general, he has the X-factor required to get his nose in front in what could be a thrilling charge for the finishing line today.
“You just can’t take anything for granted in this game,” Lowry said shortly after becoming the fourth man to shoot 62 in a major. “You feel like when you play your best golf, you’re never going to shoot a bad score again.
“But it’s just a game and what I’ve learned over the last 15 years is how to deal with the ups and downs of professional golf. I feel like I ride the waves pretty well and I take it on the chin and just move on.
“I’m 37 now and who knows how many years I’ve left at the very top level of golf, playing in these tournaments. I just want to give my best every day and if my best is good enough tomorrow, that’d be unbelievable. “But if it’s not, you know, I’m not going to go home and cry about it.”
He goes into the final round tied for fourth on 13-under-par, just two strokes behind Collin Morikawa and Xander Schauffele, who lead Sahith Theegala by one stroke. Lowry’s philosophical attitude towards the game belies his incredible fighting spirit and his desire to win.
He’d just done a string of interviews when he approached the small Irish media core at Valhalla yesterday evening and shook his head.
“I should have shot 61, lads!” he said as his father, Brendan, came over to shake his hand.
Lowry wears his heart on his sleeve but after winning The Open at Royal Portrush in 2019, he knows that anything else he achieves in the game will be a bonus.
For that reason, he was determined to soak in yesterday’s stellar performance and leave the drama of Sunday to Sunday.
“Obviously there’s a job to be done tomorrow,” he said. “Yes, I won a few weeks ago and I’m having a pretty good year but I’ve had a few hard days on the golf course recently so I’m going to enjoy this one and I’m going to go home tonight and obviously rest up and go out tomorrow and prepare as best I can and give it my all.”
Morikawa has two major titles in his collection but the leaderboard, while tightly packed, is low on major champions and Lowry knows that will count for something when he goes out with Theegala in the penultimate group at 2:25pm (7:25pm Irish time) today.
“I’ve been here before. I’ve been late on Sundays in majors and I know what to expect. But you know, you kind of expect the unexpected out there and I’ll just go out and fight for every shot and fight for everything and give it my best. If I’m successful tomorrow, it’d be great. But if not, it’s not the end of the world either.”
After holing 160 feet of putts in his 62, Lowry knows he’s unlikely to enjoy such a good day on the greens.
But that won’t stop him trying.
“It’s been a while since it’s happened,” he said of his inspired form with the putter. “So it’s nice to see it happening and I’m not going to take it for granted. I’m going to work on it tomorrow morning and keep doing the same thing and going through my routines and doing all that.
“You know, all season I’ve been hitting the ball great. And then I came here, and I hit the ball awful for the first two days and then found something last night on the range and went down and hit the ball pretty nice today, and I’ve managed to keep rolling a few putts in.
Today will be his 146th major round and he knows how to get over the line
“I know the holes I can birdie out here and I know the holes you’re going to par,” he said. “So you need to be clever out there as well. I went out and I just did my thing. And to be honest, I just felt like I was riding the wave and I felt good. I wasn’t really thinking about it too much. I wasn’t really thinking negatively. I was thinking pretty good and it all worked out pretty well.”
Who knows what Lowry can draw from his previous 43 appearances in majors. All he knows is that he’s put himself in the frame.
“I’ll go out tomorrow and you know, I’m not going into the unknown,” he said. “I’m going into something that I know. And I’m looking forward to it. “This is what I came here to do. At the start of the week, I said to you boys I wanted to give myself a chance on Saturday afternoon and give it a run from there. And that’s what I’m doing. And it’s pretty cool. And it’s nice to have a chance to win another big tournament.
“You know, these big tournaments mean the world to us players. To play well in these tournaments, it’s what it’s all about for us. That’s the reason I get up in the morning, the reason I go to practice. The reason why I sacrifice so much is to try and win these tournaments. And you know, I’ve got a good chance tomorrow.”
