Shane Lowry feels he was close to manufacturing a realistic chance to win a green jacket this week but was ultimately left with a sour taste in his mouth after his final round got away from him on the back nine.
Lowry threatened to put himself in the mix on a couple of occasions on Sunday. A birdie, birdie start was scuppered by two bogeys in three holes before birdies on 9 and 11 weren’t built on after a par on the par-5 13th and a bogey, double bogey run on 14 and 15 knocked the wind from his sails.
In the end, he settled for a final round 73 and two-under total. Naturally, he was seething.
“Yeah, perfect start, birdie-birdie, third hole, I had a half decent look and I just hit the putt too hard through the break. Actually hit a decent second putt there, and then obviously made a up-and-down on 4, and then 5 — it’s just hard out there. Then I made a great two-putt on 6, great two-putt on 7, hit a good putt on 8 and I missed, birdied 9. I was doing the right things. I hit a good putt on 10. Like I was hitting good, aggressive putts today, which I haven’t been doing for a while.
“It’s so hard to come off a round like that and come and talk to you guys. I’ll have to go away and think about it. But to be honest, it’s how I feel like my season has been going. Been a lot of good stuff there and not very good finishes.
“It’s just hard enough, hard to take.”
In 2011, Charl Schwartzel capitalised on a Rory McIlroy collapse at the Masters and Lowry had designs of repeating that feat on the back nine.
“It’s obviously a little sore right now. Yeah, I’m disappointed, obviously. I put a lot into this this week, and when I birdied 11, I thought, you never know here, and yeah, great putt on 12 and then 14 and 15 just killed me.
“It’s extremely disappointing. When you’re out there and you feel like you’ve — I know Jon is 12-under now, but at the time I was out there, I was feeling it. Like it had to go over it on 15. I felt like if I made eagle there, and you go back to thinking of lads like Charl Schwartzel birdieing the last four to win and you feel like maybe you can do something special. I tried and I failed. I’ll definitely try again.”
The Clara native has endured a difficult relationship with his putter this season and he admitted that proved his downfall this week.
“I’ve come here the last two years with a good game plan and I’ve executed very well, and I’ve had two decent weeks. I’ve played good golf. My putter let me down this week.
“Yeah, who knows. I’ll be a year older next year. I mean, like I’ve only probably got another six or seven at my peak or at max. You never know. I’m just disappointed.
“I love these weeks so much that I hate having to wait another year for this to come around.”
Lowry got out of the traps early with a four-under 68 to trail the first round lead by three but was unable to make further inroads on the lead. Despite not threatening to win, he feels his game was close to contending.
“Yeah, but like 4-under the first day should have been better, level the second day should have been better, 1-over yesterday should have been better. It’s kind of like I was very close to doing something very special this week, and that’s the hardest thing to take. That’s the hardest part for me. If I’d have went out and shot 4-under today to finish 18, I’d probably be standing here chuffed with myself. But the hardest part for me to take is I was very close. It might not look like that with the result or the finish, but I felt like it.’
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